Paphos tourist figures ‘satisfactory’

The head of the Paphos regional board of tourism Nasos Hadjigeorgiou has described the number of visitors to the district as “satisfactory”, adding that the goal of approaching the numbers seen in 2019 is still on track.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, Hadjigeorgiou said that, based on talks he had with travel agents and airlines’ schedules, it is still feasible to reach 75 per cent of the number of arrivals of pre-Covid 2019, which was a record year.

“As for domestic tourism, despite continuous and intensive efforts this year, the results are not as expected,” he said.

“Repeated lockdowns over the past two years have pushed Cypriots to book their holidays abroad, especially in Greece and Italy.

“At the same time, high fuel costs and the general increase in the cost of living has started to negatively affect local tourism.”

Hadjigeorgiou added that the tourism industry was already plagued by issues before Covid-19, but that the pandemic added additional worries to the entire sector.

“Ageing hotel infrastructures and issues related to our environment have affected us for years. On top of that, our countryside has been overlooked for a long time, which has resulted in a loss for our primary sector.”

Moreover, he also blamed the high operating costs of hotels, as well as the high cost of investments for tourism structures in Cyprus compared to other destinations in Europe.

“Adding to all our issues, the absence of Russian tourists and the lack of staffing in hotels are also weighing us down,” Hadjigeorgiou said.

“Nevertheless, the scenario gave us a great opportunity to develop other markets through our new digital campaigns, which are bearing good results.”

He also said that the top markets at the moment are the UK, Germany, Poland, France, and Israel, but admitted that one of the biggest problems this year was linked to airports’ staff shortages.

“Fortunately, however, the problem in Cyprus is much smaller than in other countries, where huge queues are affecting passengers at several airports, both at check-in and passenger screening, resulting in either cancelled flights or delayed departure times.

“I cannot see the situation improving soon, as demand in July and August is always high,” he concluded.