There will be consequences and they will be negative. Their size is what remains to be seen, when the Deryneia roadblock will now be open. PASYXE Famagusta does not formulate a policy for the Cyprus issue and the Confidence Building Measures. "But this must be said," said Doros Takkas, president of the Hotel Owners Association in Famagusta, in an interview with "F". Mr. Takkas also refers to the tens of thousands of euros that will be lost not from the hotels, but from the wider tourism industry, on a daily basis for the free Famagusta.
It also refers to the Association's views on the future of tourism not only in free Famagusta but all over Cyprus. And the necessary measures must be taken in this direction.
PASYXE Famagusta certainly does not produce or determine policy on the Cyprus Problem. However, he is responsible for defending the interests of its members. What is the position of the Association regarding the opening of the Deryneia roadblock on November 12?
You rightly point out that hoteliers are not politicians and when it comes to opening roadblocks under Confidence Building Measures, we are not the ones to judge. But what we need to say is that there will indeed be an impact on the tourism industry of free Famagusta. And unfortunately, and objectively always talking, it will have negative consequences. Because, among other things, there is the issue of unfair competition. The first problem that the area will face is that several thousand people will go daily from the roadblock to the occupied areas there in Famagusta for excursions. This, you see, means that a few thousand tourists will be missing every day from the tourist Famagusta.
According to studies by PASYXE Famagusta in the recent past, tourists in the area, in addition to their prepaid accommodation, spend at least € 20 on a coffee, a drink, a bed on the beach, a souvenir, a taxi, etc., except of hotels staying. Understand that 3-5.000 a day will be absent from the area because it will be in the occupied territories, then we are talking about a loss of income from the business tourism industry of at least € 60.000 - € 100.000 per day. So understand what numbers we are going to talk about, on an annual basis. And I clarify that this money is not immediately the hoteliers who will be deprived of it. But the wider tourism economy of the region is not negligible amounts, so the problem that will arise is not negligible.
It should also be noted that the opening of this roadblock in Deryneia will inevitably increase the flow of tourists to the occupied territories, as it will greatly facilitate access to a number of monuments and sites of historical, archaeological, environmental and artistic value, in a plethora of such from Famagusta. as far as the peninsula of Karpasia and as far as Kyrenia and the Pentadactylus mountain range. Therefore, the opening of this roadblock will create an additional incentive for tourists in free Famagusta, to visit the occupied territories. Apart from the fact that access is now becoming more convenient, compared to the previous Strovilia.
We are already facing a huge problem from tourists who have been using our legal airports for the last few years, but are staying in the occupied territories throughout their vacations. And we're talking about numbers - roughly - more than 10%. And when it comes to 300.000 or 400.000 tourists in the occupied territories, it doesn't matter what the exact number is. Even if there are 300.000, there are still many. And at the same time, we ourselves are coming to abolish what we have been saying to tourists for so many years, that you know it is not right to go to the occupied territories because it is illegal, etc. And of course the different taxation in the occupied territories compared to the free zones, also creates the issue of unfair competition. This is a big risk.
To what extent has the goal of extending the tourist season, which the free Famagusta has been seeking for years, been achieved?
I can say that now, after several years of efforts, we have achieved an extension of the tourist season in free Famagusta and all over Cyprus, but more at the beginning of the season, ie spring, than at the end of October-November. Now, the tourist season in our province starts in April and I firmly believe that it is now possible to achieve its start from March. This year in particular, the vast majority of our hotels in the countryside opened in April instead of May. However, it is very difficult to achieve this for November, that is, to expand to December. And I emphasize that this has to do purely with the fact that European travel agents are changing their plans, lifting their airlines from Cyprus and placing them in other destinations, which are considered more winter destinations than Cyprus. Such as Egypt, Morocco, Thailand, Latin American countries, etc.
But I think the goal is to persuade travel agents to expand their programs throughout November. And in order for this to happen, Cyprus must actively support the flights of airlines with subsidies during the above periods. As all our competitors do.
So that's all we have left?
For the free Famagusta I represent, the most important tourist markets are known to be British, Russian and Scandinavian. I would say this is a problem not only for Famagusta, but for Cyprus. We unfortunately approach tourists from limited markets. I can say that the English market went very well. And the Russian market went pretty well. Given that we had a very weak ruble for the Russians and a very weak Turkish pound that made Turkey a cheap tourist destination. By adding Tunisia, Morocco, but also Turkey, which are popular destinations for Russians, Cyprus has done very well in this market.
But we urgently need to enrich our tourism industry with new markets. It is not possible to have only 15.000 French tourists in Cyprus e.g. France, Italy, Germany and other tourist markets must now be approached on a different basis, to see what their tourists want, so that we can offer it to them and attract them to our island. We need to prepare a program to attract Central European countries. It takes us no longer to have significant numbers of tourists from these countries if we really want to move forward in our tourism industry. But this is easier said than done to convince and bring Chinese and American tourists to the island.