Cyprus hits back after 30,000 tourists rush to 'ditch' holidays amid 'challenging' year
Cyprus' addressed earlier claims of panic in the holiday hotspot
Holidaymakers in Cyprus have been told to stay calm as tourism chiefs insist the sunny hotspot is thriving, despite a spate of cancellations across the EU this summer.
Deputy Minister of Tourism Kostas Koumis told the Express: "There is no doubt, that the current year is a year full of challenges for the tourism industry worldwide. The financial situation in many European countries, the reduction in the purchasing power of million of households internationally, along with several other challenges have led to stakeholders concerns regarding the performance of the sector, nevertheless the performance of the Cyprus tourism industry remains strong and the sector shows resilience."
Koumis addressed earlier claims of panic within the local tourism sector and the misinterpretation of a tour operator's failure affecting Cyprus, saying: "I have been informed that some statements by local tourism stakeholders and some wrong assessments in relation to a tour operator bankruptcy have led to negative publicity regarding the sector's performance, but that is not true."
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He explained: "The reference was about the bankruptcy of the third largest German tour operator, which of course was another unpleasant development for the industry at international level, but it is worth mentioning that the market share of the tour operator in Cyprus was very small.
"The tour operator had only 30,000 bookings in Cyprus on a yearly basis, so, the negative consequences for the Cyprus tourism industry were very limited."
He added: "As I have already said, the country's tourism sector is booming again, experiencing an even better performance in comparison with the previous year, and the years before Covid times.
"An increase in tourist arrivals by 2.4% has been recorded already for the first half of the year, while the United Kingdom is recording an increase of 3.3%".
He added: "We, of course, follow the developments very carefully and on a daily basis, and we keep an open line of communication with our tourism partners worldwide, and of course we keep an open line with the private sector like hoteliers, and travel agents.
"We all feel that despite the challenges, the rest of the year will continue to mark satisfactory results, close to the levels of the previous year, which was a good year for Cyprus tourism."
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