Cuba has rolled out the red carpet for the first planeload of tourists to arrive on the Communist-run island in months as it struggles toward a post-pandemic new normalcy.

The arrival was seen as a hopeful sign for tens of thousands of laid-off leisure industry employees, shuttered small businesses and hard-pressed residents in general.

Reuters reported that an Air Canada plane arrived at midday Friday at the Cayo-Coco airport on the northcentral coast. Air Canada Vacations, the airline’s tour business, said it would now fly weekly to Cuba and biweekly beginning next month.

Canada has long been Cuba’s most important tourist provider, accounting for 1.1 million of the 4.2m arrivals in 2019, according to the government.