Qatar and Cuba on Wednesday launched a joint $75 million project to create a five-star resort on the Caribbean island, officials said.

The gas-rich Gulf state is set to become the first Arab country to invest in Cuba's booming tourism sector, after representatives inked the deal in Havana.

The 450-room upscale hotel complex is to be built in the south of the island and is expected to be completed by 2015.

While Cuba already receives millions of visitors from Europe, Latin America and Canada each year, officials hope improving ties with the United States will soon spell an influx of American tourists.

U.S. citizens have effectively been barred from traveling to Cuba for nearly a half century.

In 2008 the communist island received 2.3 million tourists.

AFP.