The goal is to make this tourist year better than last year, said the General Manager of the Pancyprian Hoteliers Association (PASYXE) Filokypros Rousounidis to KYPE, noting that with the pandemic prevailing, we should not make calculations or be sure of anything.
Mr. Rousounidis said that the three days of the Flood brought some very small breaths to the tourism industry from domestic tourism. "As of today there is a return to very low occupancy and the situation continues to be very difficult and marginal," he noted.
From there, he continued, we hope that the developments regarding the flights from Russia will run as soon as possible so that the chartered flights will start, which will give some additional breath to the industry at this moment, until we see what will happen and Great Britain which is still a big question mark and a barometer of where this year can go, since we have given so far that the first half is lost.
"Now and with the announcement from June 28 that the flights will return to normal and the chartered flights will start, we will talk about a substantial number of tourists who will come to our island to help the situation in the tourism industry and at the same time continue the measures. "Supporting industry for workers will help units stay afloat and not close, as some may have expressed in recent days."
Asked if Cyprus will be included in the green list of Great Britain, Mr. Rousounidis said that unfortunately no one can say with certainty how Great Britain will move and what it intends to do. We believe, he said, that our epidemiological picture is such that it justifies being in the green category of Great Britain.
He noted that in terms of tourism, June is lost as well as the first fortnight of July because even from June 28, when there was an announcement about chartered flights from Russia, a rudimentary program must be done, it will take a few weeks to prepare, scheduling, and corresponding bookings.
"We have moderate optimism which mainly stems from our good epidemiological picture and the developments with the Russian market and the messages we receive from all our tourism partners abroad, ie that Cyprus is at the top of the list of preferences of potential tourists. "If the conditions allow, we will be one of the first countries to take tourism", he added.
Beyond that, he noted, "everything flows, with the pandemic we must not make calculations or be sure of anything."
Asked if there will be at least an increase in tourism compared to last year, Mr. Rousounidis said that "even this one can not be able to answer it completely. I believe that this year we will be able to have even a small increase from last year and this is the first goal, to make this year better than last year ".