Larnaca looking forward to good tourism season

The summer season of Larnaca has got off to a strong start and hotel booking rates are looking positive, the Larnaca tourism development board (Etap) said on Friday.

According to Etap, the majority of hoteliers are “quite satisfied” with summer bookings, a survey revealed, while some are even overbooked for certain periods, with the current bookings rate expected to stay steady through October.

Compared to last year’s season, the survey showed a clear increase, while tour operators are hopeful that a last-minute boost will push occupancy levels up to those recorded in 2019, which was considered a record year for Larnaca.

“Although the Russian and Ukrainian markets have been removed from the equation losses have been recouped from other markets. The main tourist markets during the current year are Israel, the United Kingdom and Eastern European countries, mainly Poland, Hungary, Romania, Germany, Austria and Lebanon,” Etap said.

According to the research, bookings from France have also increased this year along with small numbers from newly emerging markets such as Serbia and Armenia.

The traffic from the Greek market is also increasing, though mainly involving business trips, Etap added.

As far as agritourism, the main markets for the Larnaca this year remain Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom.

The comments echo those made by Deputy Tourism Minister Costas Koumis on Tuesday, who told MPs that indications so far show that Cyprus can expect an eight per cent increase in tourism arrivals this year compared to the record year of 2019.