By Robert Morgan

Around 4,000 more positions in Cypriot hotels have been filled in the first three months of this year than last after the foreign worker application process was streamlined, Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou said on Friday.

The issue has been managed without negatively affecting the employment of Cypriots, the minister added in comments to CyBC radio.

Waiting times for foreign worker applications have been reduced to less than two months, he said.

Comparing 2024 to previous years, he said that foreign worker applications were often backlogged for hotels until mid-August.

In the first six months of 2024, nearly 10,000 foreign worker applications were submitted, the minister said. It is from this pool that the approximately 4,000 were approved.

On Thursday the minister said that the industry is now fully staffed before the start of the season.