It has been found that the famous online home-rental service Airbnb will allow American travelers to book lodging in Cuba.

Starting on Thursday, the move will be the most significant US business expansion on the island since the declaration of détente between the two countries late last year.

For almost half-century, the US trade restrictions have blocked such businesses from entering the Cuban market.

But in January, the Obama administration loosened some restrictions on US business in an attempt to encourage the growth of the islands’ small private sector.

Airbnb’s searches for Cuba from now onwards will turn up more than 1,000 properties across the island. Nearly 40% in Hawaii and the rest of it will be in tourist destinations, such as Cienfuegos, a few hours away on the southern coast.

The company has been frequently sending teams of representatives to Cuba for three months to sign up home owners, and plans to expand steadily in coming months.

Kay Kuehne, regional director for Airbnb, said they believe that Cuba has the potential to become one of Airbnb’s markets in Latin America.

“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”, Kuehne said.

One of the most developed and important element of Cuba’s entrepreneurial sector is that Cuba has a network of thousands of privately owned rooms and houses for tourists.

Netflix and MasterCard have also unblocked their services in Cuba, but only a handful of islanders have connections fast enough to stream Netflix. But still several credit-card issuers still prohibit transactions from Cuba, making MasterCard's move largely symbolic.