Cyprus hoteliers in Ayia Napa, Protaras and Larnaca are warning of a sharp slowdown in bookings ahead of the new tourism season, as the war in the Middle East continues to weigh on travel demand.

According to Politis, hotel operators in the Famagusta district said cancellations are now affecting mainly April and May, while the flow of new reservations has weakened just as most tourist accommodation is preparing to reopen by the end of March or early April.

Speaking to the Cypriot daily, Famagusta Hoteliers Association (Pasyxe) president Panayiotis Constantinou said that the concern is not limited to cancellations, but is centred increasingly on the lack of new bookings from European markets.

He said most summer reservations had so far remained largely intact, with only isolated cancellations reported for the months ahead.

However, he warned that hotels were expected to resume operations with significantly lower occupancy than initially hoped.

Pasyxe Famagusta is renewing calls for targeted state support, including an extension of unemployment benefit payments until the end of April for hotel staff who will not be taken back immediately as units reopen.

Larnaca’s hotel sector is facing similar pressure. Marios Polyviou, president of the local hoteliers’ association, told Politis that cancellations in the city and district had reached around 35 per cent, while new bookings were running at just one-tenth of the level recorded in the same period last year.

He said the cancellations were so far concentrated in April, with no notable losses yet for the summer season, but added that the real worry was the near standstill in fresh reservations.

Polyviou stated that “Larnaca was feeling the impact more sharply because Israel has been one of its most important source markets, at times ranking first for the district.”

Still, he described the situation as “manageable for now”, noting that “other Mediterranean destinations, including Spain, Greece and Turkey, were also seeing weaker booking activity as travellers held back and waited to see how events in the region unfold.”

In that sense, he said, Cyprus had not so far lost visitors to rival destinations because of the conflict.

Polyviou also said there were indications from Israel that flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport to Cyprus could resume by the end of April.

Once that is confirmed and services restart, he added, the market may begin to return gradually to a more normal rhythm.