Cyprus Business Now

Thanos Michaelides has been elected as the new president of the Cyprus hoteliers association (Pasyxe), following an election that took place this week, according to an official announcement by the association.

In addition, following his election, Michaelides outlined his vision for the hospitality sector in Cyprus.

In a statement, Michaelides expressed his gratitude to all those who supported him and acknowledged that he is fully aware of his responsibilities as president, as well as the challenges and long-standing issues that have plagued the industry.

These challenges, he explained, include the lack of personnel and excessive dependence on specific markets, which, as previous years’ experiences have shown, are not optimal.

“Undoubtedly, the hotel sector operates in a constantly changing environment that is influenced by external factors,” he stated.

He further emphasised that the objective is to address these challenges with modern means, continuing to invest in the model of public-private sector collaboration that has yielded significant results for the sector, the economy, and, by extension, Cyprus in general.

What is more, he highlighted the need to continuously improve Cyprus’ tourism product.

Finally, Michaelides expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the outgoing president of the association Charis Loizides, for his “multifaceted, long-standing, and significant contribution to the association as well as the Cypriot tourism industry”.

The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) on Wednesday announced that governor Constantinos Herodotou took part in a gathering of central banking experts from across Europe, at the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Forum on Central Banking.

The event, held from June 26 to 28, 2023, in Sintra, Portugal, focused on the critical topic of “Macroeconomic Stability in an Unstable Inflationary Environment.”

Among the topics discussed at the forum was how Europe can navigate the challenges posed by rising inflationary pressures.

Herodotou recently told the Association of Cyprus Banks that the local economy is expected to remain robust in 2023, despite ongoing global challenges such as the prolonged war in Ukraine.

“The continued development of the country will primarily stem from increased domestic demand and, to a lesser extent, net exports,” he said at the time.

He had also noted that “this is mainly because of the expansion of business activities of foreign companies already established in Cyprus, as well as the ongoing rise in tourism revenues, which have recovered to pre-pandemic levels in the first three months of 2023”.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Wednesday, June 28 with profits.

The general Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 117.67 points at 12:20 during the day, reflecting an increase of 0.01 per cent over the previous day of trading.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 71.20 points, representing a rise of 0.04 per cent.

The total value of transactions came up to €110,536.

In terms of the sub-indexes, the main, alternative, investment firm indexes rose by 0.1 per cent, 0.01 per cent and 1.71 per cent respectively, while the hotel index fell by 1.71 per cent.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by the Bank of Cyprus (-0.34 per cent), Hellenic Bank (-0.51 per cent), KEO (+1.33 per cent), Constantinou Bros Hotels Public Company (-9.32 per cent), and Demetra Holdings (+1.87 per cent).