Cyprus Business Now

Paphos hoteliers association (Pasyxe) president Thanos Michaelides on Tuesday said that hoteliers are currently faced with two challenges,the difficulty of finding staff, but also the high cost of of electricity and other basic necessities.

Michaelides said that in May, the occupancy rate of hotels in Paphos was around 55 per cent, before adding that estimates suggest that June will be at a satisfactory level compared to the same month of the previous year.

In statements made to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), Michaelides explained that one of the biggest problems faced by hoteliers is the lack of manpower, which is a global phenomenon and not just a Cypriot one.

“Hotels need a certain number of staff members to operate,” he said.

Aside from the issue of labour shortages, the second major problem faced by hoteliers is soaring inflation and frightening price increases.

“No matter how hard we try to save electricity, unfortunately, hotel areas need to remain cooled in the summer,” Michaelides said.

In relation to the occupancy rate in May, the Pasyxe president noted that under normal circumstances, May would have seen the largest tourist inflows from the Russian market, at least in Paphos, something that has not been the case due to the war in Ukraine.

He added that tourists from other markets did not fill the gap created by the absence of Russians, at least for May, resulting in reduced occupancy.

The Paphos Tourism Board (Etap), Cyprus Hotels Association (Pasyxe), and Hellenic Bank this week announced a targeted digital promotional campaign to drive tourism to Paphos with a total budget of €150,000.

“Based on last year’s successful effort and award-winning initiative by the Cyprus Tourism Awards 2021 in the field of Digital Tourism, tourism operators are once again launching a similar digital campaign to the one from the previous year,” a statement explained.

The campaign primarily seeks to increase the destination’s recognition and help attract visitors who have easy or satisfactory air access to Cyprus and particularly Paphos,” the statement added.

The campaign will especially focus on certain countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Israel, and France, among others.

Finally, the campaign will utilise specialised technology and an advanced algorithm in order to target a predetermined range of potential visitor profiles who will be actively interested in travelling to Cyprus.

Food delivery company Wolt regional general manager Athanasios Bilalis on Tuesday said that the Cypriot market is showing great momentum in this sector, boosted by the short distances and brief delivery times.

The company has recently launched a new store, called Wolt Market, which offers a delivery-only supermarket service to customers.

“Our main goal is to provide an authentically unique experience to our customers, since, in addition to being able to deliver shopping to the customer’s door within 20-30 minutes, we also believe that the quality, freshness, and variety of our products are the key parameters that will make Wolt Market a great choice for many people with different needs,” Bilalis told local outlet InBusiness.

“At the end of the day, it is very important to be able to deliver what you promise,” he added, noting that “at the same time, our geographical development enables local suppliers to grow their business by acquiring a new distribution channel for their products,” he added.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Tuesday, May 17 with losses.

The main Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 66.84 points at 13:46 during the day, reflecting a drop of 1.05 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 40.13 points, which represents a decrease of 1.11 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €86,314.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the main and alternative indexes fell by 1.68 per cent and 0.13 per cent respectively.

The hotel and investment firm indexes also dropped by 3.09 per cent and 4.8 per cent.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by the Bank of Cyprus (-1 per cent), the Cyprus Cement Company (+2.4 per cent), Hellenic Bank (no change), Keo (no change) and Petrolina (-0.9 per cent).