The hoteliers of the Famagusta free area do not keep a "big basket" in terms of tourism for the rest of 2020, while there is intense concern about what will happen in the tourism industry in 2021, said the President of PASYXE Famagusta Doros Takkas to KYPE.
Mr. Takkas said that "for such a time of year tourism in the free area of Famagusta, ie Ayia Napa and Protaras, is far behind compared to other years. "Travel restrictions, due to the coronavirus pandemic imposed by various European countries, have resulted in very low levels of tourism in our region."
During this period, he continued "we had a lot of tourism from Cypriots with the result that there is increased occupancy in the hotel units that opened, until the end of the week". At the end of August there is expected to be a decline, he continued and expressed the hope that the movement with the Cypriots will continue on the weekends.
Regarding the arrivals of tourists from abroad, Mr. Takkas said that "things are very difficult. However, because either Cyprus puts various European countries in category B, or other countries place our country in this category, there is not much hope for the arrival of tourists even at the end of the summer season ".
He added that "because the epidemiological data of traditional countries from which we receive tourism in the free Famagusta region, such as Russia, Britain, the Nordic countries and Germany, do not seem to be going well, there has been a great deal of speculation as to whether hotels will remain open in September and October. "Certainly some of the hotels that are open now will be forced to close next month."
Asked how many hotels are currently open in the free area of Famagusta, Mr. Takkas said that "it is estimated that only 30% of the hotel units are open and most of them will not be able to stay open in September and October" after the Germany and some German-speaking countries are the only market from which there is tourist traffic. "Tourists from various foreign countries who visited Cyprus this year were very few," he noted.
Regarding domestic tourism, the President of PASYXE Famagusta said that "because the Cypriots could not go abroad for holidays due to the coronavirus pandemic, especially in Greece and the islands, they were forced to stay on our island and end up in hotels in the area. something that helped the tourism industry to some extent. We estimate that by August 23 the Cypriots will start returning to work and we hope that we will have them with us on the weekends ".
Asked about the reduction rate of tourism, Doros Takkas said that "it is estimated that it exceeds 90%. "When Cyprus has traditional markets outside of tourism planning, namely Russia, Britain and the Scandinavian countries, and visitors are almost zero, it is natural for arrivals to be at very low levels."
In his statements, Mr. Takkas also referred to the issue of the financial crisis due to the coronavirus and said that "we are waiting to see in the coming months how much this issue will affect the tourism industry. "Because the crisis that has been created is global, it is estimated that we will experience its economic consequences from next winter," he said, adding that "for this reason, our concern is what will happen to tourism next year."
Asked if there is any optimism in the tourism industry for 2021, he said that "we do not keep a big basket for the rest of 2020, while for next year there is great concern. There are several parameters that concern those involved in tourism and what will happen in 2021, including the discovery of the coronavirus vaccine, the acceptance or not of the world for vaccination and the change in the psychology of the world which is the most important part in whole affair ".
Noting that there are several daily flights to Cyprus from different countries, he said that "it seems that people travel with these flights for reasons other than tourism. The hoteliers did not feel that tourists arrived in Cyprus with airlines such as Jet2 from Britain which was said to bring several visitors "he said and noted that" it seems that most of the passengers of this company are Cypriots or British who live on the island us and come to escape from the situation that prevails in their country ".
Source: KYPE