Airbnb has expanded to Cuba

Watch out, Havana: The (North) Americans are coming. Starting Thursday, Airbnb will list 1,000 properties throughout Cuba, The Associated Press reports, with 40 percent of the rentals in Havana and the rest scattered throughout other tourist destinations on the island. Airbnb has spent three months lining up apartments and houses, but the idea is apparently nothing new in Cuba.

"We believe that Cuba could become one of Airbnb's biggest markets in Latin America," said Airbnb regional director Kay Kuehne. "We are actually plugging into an existing culture of micro-enterprise in Cuba. The hosts in Cuba have been doing for decades what we just started doing seven years ago." Some other U.S. businesses have entered the Cuban market since President Obama and Cuba's leaders started unfreezing relations in January, but this expansion will probably have the most impact on Cuba's citizens. For now, only U.S. Airbnb customers can book rooms in Cuba.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.