Although the weather conditions allow it and the hoteliers themselves would like the tourist season to reach at least until the end of November, however, unfortunately by the first week of November most hotels in free Famagusta will have closed. This was stated by the local president of PASYXE, speaking to Phileleftheros.
Doros Ttakas stated that this negative development is primarily due to the fact that foreign tour operators transporting tourists to Cyprus will not receive any assistance or incentive to continue working in this direction during the winter or at least one part of. At least PASYXE Famagusta, which is active in the most touristic province of the island, this policy of the state finds us completely opposed, also stressed the president of PASYXE Famagusta.
These incentives, he continued, had to continue for all tour operators throughout November and for some, albeit with some cuts, for the coming months. At the same time, Mr. Ttakas expressed his disagreement with the Government's policy of helping the airlines in the first role and not the travel agents. "We, as PASYXE Famagusta, suggested that we be more attractive as a tourist country with travel agents. "By subsidizing them, we would give one as a country and we would get back ten", he stressed. "Giving 3-4 euros to the travel agent to bring you a tourist, you will save the many euros he will spend when he spends his holidays on the island. In addition, at least a respectable number of hotels will be left open, which will continue to employ their employees, whom the state will not have to compensate with unemployment benefits, burdening its funds ", he added.
Another factor that discourages any hotels considering staying open during the winter is the cessation of subsidy programs for hotel industry employees, a development that automatically boosts a hotel's operating costs. At least for November, this decision should not have been made, as there were all the conditions for the tourist market to move satisfactorily, Mr. Ttakas pointed out.
The only thing that is certain, however, is that the locomotive of this year's tourism in Cyprus - and this was also the case in Famagusta - was the Russian tourists. And near them the Ukrainians, the Georgians, etc. Tourists from Famagusta followed at least, followed by tourists from Poland and the Czech Republic. The British, commented Mr. Ttakas, Famagusta saw them at the end of the tourist season and not in such large numbers. "Exactly from mid-September onwards, they began to make their presence felt," he said.
However, he stressed, the messages from Britain for the next tourist season for the time being are encouraging and, if everything goes unexpectedly, Cyprus will receive a much higher number of tourists from this country. As it was late to open this year and many tour operators left it out of their plans.
philenews.com