WITH only a week to go to the start of the summer tourist season, optimism is high in the sector for another record year for arrivals.
"Bookings are very good," Commerce Industry and Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
He said the estimate was that overall the number of visitors would be up by ten per cent, which would translate into around 2.7 million visitors.
Even the 1999/2000 winter season saw a sharp rise, with arrivals in February up a whopping 18 per cent on the same period last year. January was also up more then 10 per cent.
Rolandis, who returned on Thursday night from a tourism fair in Russia, said numbers were expected to be up from all destinations.
In particular, he said the UK was expected to exceed the forecast 10 per cent increase. Visitors from Germany would increase between 10 and 15 per cent and from Russia between five and eight per cent.
"Russia dropped off in 1999 from 190,000 visitors to 135,000 because of the (economic) crisis," Rolandis said.
"Cyprus had the smallest decrease while others fell dramatically. In our case we kept 135,000. This time the number of arrivals will be close to 150,000."
The Minister said that while the bookings situation looked good, the industry had to face the inevitable consequence of overbooking due to a shortage of summer beds.
"There may be a problem with overbooking," Rolandis said. "Already we have complaints from Germany and Russia and even from the UK."
Hoteliers are also optimistic for the summer. Zacharias Ioannides, director general of the Hoteliers Association, said yesterday his members expected a record year.
"We anticipate a growth of five to 10 per cent, and the most encouraging of all the developments, is the fact that almost all our markets are showing a healthy growth, including Russia," he said, adding, like Rolandis that there were definite signs of recovery from last year’s slump in the Russian market.
"The UK is doing excellently and from the bookings situation so far we are confident of a second year of double-digit growth rate."
Rolandis also said plans for the Miss Universe contest in May were going very well despite some "delays and difficulties".
"This is much bigger than we ever thought it would be," Rolandis said.
Ioannides said it would be difficult to quantify the effects of the Miss Universe pageant, but agreed that it was an effective means of exposure for the island as a tourist destination.
Also yesterday, Communications and Works Minister Averoff Neophytou announced that an initial agreement had been reached with a cruise firm for the development of Larnaca port as a major cruise centre.
