2020 seems lost from a tourism point of view, while there are serious concerns for 2021 as well.
The president of PASYXE Famagusta, Doros Takkas, appears pessimistic about the future of the tourism industry, as, as he explained in his statements, from his daily contacts with foreign travel agents, there is not even a glimmer of hope for a better future at the moment. in fact, the coronavirus vaccine has not yet been found.
And while we are in the "heart" of summer, the messages coming from the pre-eminent tourist province of Cyprus are not at all encouraging. The traffic from foreign tourists remains minimal and it concerns only a small number of visitors from Germany, Switzerland and Austria. At the moment, there are a total of about 20 hotels and a number of tourist apartments in Ayia Napa and Protaras.
The occupancy of hotels, however, does not exceed 10% on weekdays, while only on weekends the occupancy reaches up to 30% -35% due to the arrival of Cypriot visitors. "According to the indications we have so far and the messages we receive daily, in July and August the situation regarding the tourist traffic from abroad will not change at all. This is because there is still nothing tangible about our main tourist markets, which are England, Russia and Sweden.
Unfortunately, Mr. Takkas explains, these markets are out of play until August. Especially the travel agents of the United Kingdom have informed us that until their country joins the A category, the British will not travel to the island, even if the crown test will be free. There is no interest from English to travel to our island under these conditions. "So, before England enters the AD category, we should not expect any movement from the English market, at the same time that there is nothing new even from the Russian market", noted Mr. Takkas.
The president of the free hoteliers of Famagusta did not hide his concern for the summer of 2021, saying that if a vaccine against the coronary is not found by then, no big difference in the tourist traffic from abroad should be expected next year either.
Source: Citizen
