On Monday, the tourism ministry said any Cuban with enough money can stay in luxury hotels and rent cars, doing away with restrictions that made ordinary people feel like second-class citizens.

And last week, Cuba said citizens will be able to get mobile phones legally in their own names, a luxury long reserved for the lucky few.

Many shoppers filling into stores on Tuesday, however, mourned the fact that the newly available goods are unaffordable on the government salaries they earn.

Low state wages

A major public complaint that his government will need to deal with is that state wages paid in Cuban pesos are too low, while many consumer goods have to be paid for in convertible pesos, or CUCs, worth 24 times more than pesos.

A class of "new rich" Cubans that has developed over the last 15 years will be the first to benefit from access to seaside hotels, computers and mobile phone connections that cost $120, or six times the average monthly wage.

About 60 per cent of Cubans have access to some hard currency from cash remittances sent by relatives abroad, mainly in the US, or through factory and farm bonuses and tips from foreign tourists.