Holidays in a special atmosphere this year as well, since it is the second year that we are going through a pandemic, with the scene remaining fluid, in terms of the restrictive measures that prevail, both inside and outside Cyprus.
Against this background, most Cypriots seem to have preferred to stay inside the island, spending the holidays in a family atmosphere, with traditional tables in the homes of relatives and friends on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.
Some, on the other hand, plan for a short stay in a hotel on the beach or in the mountain resorts, combining rest and entertainment, taking advantage of the domestic tourism program.
Still others, although much fewer than in previous years, have left or will leave in the coming days for abroad, with most preferring Greece or a Central European country. As we are informed, although many of our compatriots intended to travel to a European destination in the autumn, in the end the new restrictive measures brought about a reversal of the plans and resulted in… domestic alternatives.
Air bookings are low
However, according to the honorary president of travel agents, Akis Kelepesi, this year's air reservations are at quite low levels for the holidays.
As Mr. Kelepesis mentioned, the reservations, on the one hand, are at better levels compared to last year, where we were under stricter restrictions, but at much lower levels compared to 2019, with the percentage rising70% less than two years ago.
He pointed out that while there was a lot of mobility in the autumn and there was interest in booking for the holidays, the new restrictive measures imposed in November in European countries and especially in Austria, led many Cypriots to cancel their trips.
Many Cypriots in the mountain resorts…
On the other hand, several of our fellow citizens, who remained on the island, decided to spend the holidays in a hotel, with the majority preferring mountain resorts.
As stated by the General Manager of the Pancyprian Hoteliers Association (PASYXE), Filokypros Rousounidis, the occupancy of hotel units on the three days of Christmas and New Year is 60-70%, while in some cases it is 80% of the occupancy. prefers a resort in the mountains.
It is worth noting, of course, that 75-80% of the hotel units have been closed, while only a few hotel units remain open on the beach and some mountain resorts.
Mr. Rousounidis underlined that the fullness of the hotels is not what we wanted, but under the current data it is considered relatively satisfactory, while noting that the Home Tourism Support Plan gave a boost to domestic tourism, since many vaccinated citizens wanted to take advantage of the holidays. and overnight stays, in the context of strengthening domestic tourism and the hotel industry, which continues to be affected by the pandemic.
Winter is difficult for tourism
More generally, however, regarding the Tourism sector, executives of the tourism and hotel industry of the place stressed in the previous days that things are developing more negatively than everyone estimated within the previous summer.
"Already the winter period of 2021 has significantly reduced rates of traffic and tourist traffic than we estimated," said the member of PASYXE Paphos, Marios Vassilios. "As we speak today, it is characteristic that all the major travel organizers abroad have canceled or postponed any planning for 2022, with the result that the planned gradual return to normalcy of our hotel industry is postponed to a later stage and not before March. And the most worrying thing is that in the last few weeks there have been significant cancellations of reservations from abroad. "We have to face the reality that the situation will be very difficult in the new year as well."
The hotels are experiencing unprecedented difficulties, he stressed, since the planning for the summer can not be promoted immediately. Until then, he concluded, unfortunately things in the tourism sector will continue at very low levels, as in recent months.
philenews.com