In order to exceed 4 million tourist arrivals this year, the hotel industry of our island is undergoing large-scale renovations.
The coastal areas of our island can be characterized as a construction site as the Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO) received a rain of applications from hotel units seeking the approval of the Organization to expand their accommodation to welcome as many tourists as possible.
Most applications have been submitted by businessmen for the free province of Famagusta and Paphos.
Before the CTO, there are 60 applications for hotel extensions or renovations. According to data presented by the newspaper "Phileleftheros", half of them are located in the free province of Famagusta (Protaras and Ayia Napa).
At the same time, 12 renovations are underway in Paphos and 10 in Limassol, while the corresponding number in Larnaca is 8.
In fact, the CTO estimates that about 12 thousand - 15 thousand beds are under construction.
According to data from the CTO, the number of beds in Cyprus in the first half of 2017 amounted to 84 thousand and corresponded to 793 tourist units. Therefore, if the new beds are added, the capacity of the hotel industry will exceed 100 thousand beds. Already in January, a 21,2% increase in tourist arrivals was recorded.
According to the results of the Traveler Survey, tourist arrivals amounted to 75.867 compared to 62.611 in January last year. In fact, they were the best January of all time. Tourist arrivals in 2017 amounted to 3,6 million, with stakeholders estimating that this year, if everything goes smoothly, they will exceed the barrier of 4 million. This is helped by the increase in beds since last year during the peak months there was 100% completeness.
However, the problem of seasonality remains on the table. It is known that during the months of April - October the hotels are overcrowded. Therefore, the new beds will stimulate the hotels in the summer. The issue that needs to be resolved by the stakeholders is what happens to the other months.
It is also worth noting that crutches give entrepreneurs the new CTO sponsorship plans amounting to € 16 million. The Agency announced the first call for applications under the sponsorship program for the enrichment and modernization of the tourism product to extend the tourist season. This invitation states that special emphasis will be given to conference, sports and tourism of special interests. In addition, in some cases, tour operators working with specific hotels have donated money to expand hotel units and add beds.
Source: Phileleftheros / Dimitra Landou