Paphos wants to attract higher-income guests, extend tourist season

The Paphos regional tourism board (Etap) this week announced that the district’s preparations in light of the upcoming tourist summer season are well underway, with more than 90 per cent of all beds already being available to visitors.

Tourism board president Nasos Hadjigeorgiou told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that the reopening of the remaining tourist units in Paphos, including restaurants and other food businesses, as well as various pieces of tourist industry infrastructure and services, is expected to be completed by the first week of April.

“Paphos will continue to be among the first choices for holidays of both foreign visitors and permanent residents of Cyprus this year,” Hadjigeorgiou said.

Moreover, he explained that there is a number of early indicators which act as a source of encouragement for the district in terms of summer tourism activity.

This includes airlines, travel agents and tour operators’ flight schedules, bookings and publicised plans, the overall capacity in terms of airline seats, as well as the more prominent online presence of Paphos as a travel destination, especially in international markets.

“All of these factors allow us to remain optimistic that Paphos this year has the capacity to reach and even surpass the performance of 2019 in terms of arrivals and revenue generated,” he said.

“Certainly, the goal this year is to attract as many international guests as possible, but also domestic visitors, while the eye remains focused on being able to extend the summer season by two months, meaning from March to November,” he added.

Finally, Hadjigeorgiou concluded by saying that the strategic goal of the Paphos district remains the same, which is to restore the destination to a full-time operation in the coming years, while further diversifying the markets from which it attracts guests and become more appealing to higher-income visitors.