Coronavirus: Tourism sector hoping for better year

Amidst preparations for next week’s reopening, the tourism sector is hoping for a better season than last year.

In light of the end of the third lockdown on Monday, hotels, restaurants, cafes and tourist related establishments across the island are cleaning up and placing product orders as they prepare to welcome customers.

Despite the pandemic, the rate of vaccinations here and abroad has led to guarded optimism that this year could prove better than 2020.

“With the increase of vaccinations in Cyprus and abroad, the flow of bookings for holidays will follow,” Ioanna Florentiadou, representative of the Larnaca branch of Cyprus Hotels Association told the Cyprus News Agency.

An official from the Famagusta Tourism Board (Etap) Lakis Avraamides said the increase of vaccinations will benefit the tourist industry as it might mean Cyprus being moved from the dark red category to a safer flight categorisation within the European Union.

But bookings for summer will be made late and peak after July, Florentiadou estimated, while the holiday period could be extended to November if weather conditions allow.

Tourism will also depend on the local epidemiological picture, while domestic tourism could be affected as well as many people lost their jobs or saw their incomes reduced during the pandemic, she added.

In Famagusta, about 20 hotels are currently in operation with tourists from Russia and Israel, Avraamides said.

Flights from one of the main tourist markets, Russia, to Cyprus are expected to increase, while charter flights will start next week.

“We hope that this year we will have a probably better tourist year than last year,” Avraamides said.

Cyprus domestic tourism scheme offering incentives for local residents to stay in hotels will also benefit the industry, he added.

The most recent lockdown, which was over the Easter holidays, was a devastating blow for businesses, the president of the recreation centres association (Osika) Neophytos Thrasyvoulou told the Cyprus News Agency.

“[We] had ordered fresh perishables, meat, fresh fish, which cannot be stored for many days, and as a result quantities have been thrown away or even given away,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Famagusta tourism development and promotion company will launch an online advertising campaign through an application promoted on social media.

The campaign will target markets including Russia, Israel, Nordic countries, and countries in Central Europe as well as Ukraine according to Avraamides’ statements to the agency.

“It will significantly change the leisure experience in the district,” while it will also provide “a variety of services and information to the visitors,” Etap’s official added.