Tourism arrivals fell some 8 per cent in the first seven months of this year, Deputy Tourism Minister Costas Koumis announced on Friday.

The year is expected to close with a decline of around 5 per cent, worse than 2024, despite what he called a ‘successful crisis response’.

Koumis was speaking at a meeting between the deputy ministry, the hoteliers’ association (Pasyxe) as well as Limassol tourism bodies.

Monthly figures showed the decline easing through summer, falling to around 1 per cent in June and just over 1 per cent in July, while August figures are still awaited.

“The total percentage for the first seven months of the year has dropped to 8 per cent and I emphasise the word dropped because it indicates that the decrease is clearly now on a downward path,” he said.

Recalling the industry’s crisis earlier this year following the fallout of the drone strike at RAF Akrotiri and the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Koumis insisted that the appropriate measures were taken.

“When we were getting an idea of the size of the problem and the thousands of cancellations, the freezing of reservations, we implemented a series of actions that followed,” he said.

He further claimed that other affected countries did not manage the situation as well as Cyprus.

Limassol tourism board president Andreas Tsouloftas raised a separate issue, remarking on the conversion of small hotels into short-term residential units has cut the number of available beds, limiting Limassol’s ability to grow beyond its current 12 per cent share of national tourism.

“It would be a good thing if there were interest or some incentives to increase these beds, instead of focusing on just attracting higher spending visitors”, he said.

Asked in regard to the reported pollution off the Limassol coast, Koumis said responsibility lay with the deputy shipping ministry.

“We know that the issue has already been analysed, it will be managed by the competent authorities of the country and from there on we hope that a solution will be found in the long term,” he said.

Pasyxe’s Limassol chief Christos Tsanos said the association is strengthening marketing efforts with the employers’ federation (Oev), the commerce chamber (Keve), as well as the municipality.