Coronavirus: Hoteliers look to vaccines for tourism restart

Global vaccinations are the only hope to rebuild tourism for the second half of 2021, the Famagusta branch of the Cyprus Hotel Association (Pasyxe) said on Friday.

This year remains uncertain, “since it seems that all the plans for the upcoming tourist season are based on the progress of vaccinations,” the president of Pasyxe in Famagusta, Doros Takas told the Cyprus News Agency.

He added that vaccinations are currently moving slowly as there is only one approved vaccine, the Pfizer-BioNTech.

There are no hotel bookings yet, hence “hoteliers estimate that the first six months of 2021 should be considered almost lost for tourism,” he said.

Last year tourism came to near standstill, with the government-controlled areas of Famagusta district welcoming only 10 per cent of the tourist arrivals of 2019.

However, this year cannot be the same as the last, Takas said, since vaccinations have started in many countries and there is more knowledge about the virus.

Takas expressed the hope that vaccinations will move quickly so that people’s spirits are lifted and “start organising their holidays”.

“The UK market has entered a large and extensive lockdown, currently having other priorities than the holidays. As for Russia, which is the second largest [tourist] market for Cyprus, it is in about the same situation, so we expect developments, which we hope will not be delayed, so that there will be some tourist traffic, at least in the second half of 2021,” Takas said.

Expressing cautious optimism, Takas said they are expecting 50 per cent of the 2019 tourist arrivals, which “will be possible if the tourist season begins in June and continues until November,” he added.

But the tourism sector, due to the coronavirus pandemic, “will need years to recover,” Takas said, estimating it will improve by 2023.

“Even if things improve in terms of the coronavirus, prices in the hotel and other sectors will inevitably increase due to the intense competition from different countries,” Takas added.