But the enthusiasm over Continental's first charter flight here from the United States
                 contrasted with the cloudy economic outlook the communist island -- and the
                 world in general -- now face.

                 After the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Cuba has seen a
                 visible drop in tourism -- the island's No. 1 source of convertible currency.

                 Just as the attacks deepened a recession in the United States, fallout from the
                 attacks worsened economic problems brewing in Cuba.

                 Cuba already was hurting from lower world prices for nickel and sugar -- two
                 important exports.

                 Fidel Castro's government is now asking Cubans to prepare for "some sacrifices."

                 Twenty of 225 hotels across the island recently shut down temporarily because of
                 a drop in visitors. A third of 36,000 hotel rooms set aside for foreign tourists are
                 empty.

                 Vice President Carlos Lage, Cuba's top economic planner, insists that the island
                 would never again face the deprivation of the early 1990s after the Soviet Union
                 collapsed.

                 Diplomats and foreign investors here say privately that Cuban authorities are quietly
                 discussing measures to prevent economic crisis, including a 10 percent cut in
                 government office costs and a possible freeze in new investment.

                 Along with the drop in tourism, there is concern about the impact the world
                 recession could have on how much money people outside Cuba send to relatives on
                 the island.

                 Most worried are Cubans who have grown to depend on dollars.

                 "If one doesn't have dollars, one doesn't live," said 36-year-old housewife Barbara
                 Lezama. Her ex-husband, the father of her 14-year-old daughter, sends them at
                 least $200 four times a year from the United States.

                 Cubans without relatives in the United States and with no connections to tourism
                 have long lived purely on Cuban pesos.

                 The average government salary until several weeks ago was about 250 pesos a
                 month, or $11. With the weakening in recent days of the local currency an average
                 monthly salary in pesos will yield only about $9.60.

                 Still, executives for Continental and other foreign companies express optimism.
                 Continental will now offer 20 weekly trips between Havana and Miami and New
                 York each week.

                 "The market has grown ... and it keeps growing," said Thomas L. Cooper,
                 president of Continental Connection, who was on hand for the first flight Thursday.

                 Only people with permission from the U.S. government can take the charter flights,
                 including American journalists, humanitarian workers, academic researchers and
                 some Cuban-Americans.

                 An estimated 120,000 passengers have used charter flights to get to Cuba this year,
                 most of them Cuban Americans.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.