Tourism: The loss from the Russian market will be covered

Undersecretary of Tourism Savvas Perdios is optimistic that this year can catch the performance of 2021

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Despite losing ground in the Russian and Ukrainian markets due to the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, Deputy Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios was optimistic that this year could catch up with 2021 due to the promotion of other markets, which may to fill part of the gap from the second largest tourist market of Cyprus.

"I believe that with the movements of recent years, our product is more durable, the perception of what Cyprus is has begun to differentiate, we bring tourism with a higher income level. "We will do everything in our power to make things as good as possible under the circumstances," said Mr Perdios, speaking online to the parliamentary Trade Committee, which is examining the consequences of the Ukrainian crisis in the tourism industry.

He said that both the State Department and tourism operators are operating in the worst case scenario, which is the complete loss of 800.000 tourists expected from Russia and Ukraine.

"We are now working with the worst case scenario, which says we will have zero arrivals because even if the war ends tomorrow, no one knows how long the sanctions will last and no one knows if the Russians due to the fall of their currency could travel, "he said.

He stressed, however, that although the Russian market, the second largest market in Cyprus, can not be replaced in its entirety, there is significant prospects from countries such as Germany, Israel, Poland, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. , France, Sweden and Hungary, a perspective created by the actions of the State Department, the Ministry of Transport and Hermes Airports. He noted that these countries will have 20 to 40 flights each compared to about 100 flights a week coming from Russia.

"Last year the average fullness of the planes was around 70%. "If this year through our actions we achieve 70% become 85% to 90% only from this and without an increase in itineraries we will talk about an additional 200.000 to 250.000 seats compared to what we expected to have", he said, adding that the United Kingdom and Israel have dynamics and in fact will be open markets from the beginning of the season, in contrast to 2021.

Finally, he announced measures to strengthen domestic tourism, saying that at the moment the State Department is making calculations and will provide information in due course.

KYPE