MOUNTAIN resorts are doing a roaring trade over the New Year weekend but coastal resorts are having a hit-and-miss holiday season, hotels said yesterday.
Both the Jubilee Troodos Hotels said they are almost fully booked for the weekend. The Troodos has a special package deal including a New Year’s Eve gala dinner with live music. The hotel reports a mixed clientele, most of whom are tourists.
The Jubilee says it has no special package but is almost 100 per cent full with Cypriots. One hotel in Platres said Cypriots like to head for the hills both in summer and winter. “They like to sit by the fireplace and listen to Bing Crosby singing ‘White Christmas’ to give them the illusion they are in Aspen or somewhere like that,” a hotel representative there said.
On the coast occupancy figures swing wildly from 25 per cent to 95 per cent and between the numbers of Cypriot and foreign clientele.
Limassol’s St Raphael Hotel said it is 55 per cent full, mostly with tourists, while the Amathus is fully booked with 70 per cent of its clientele coming from abroad and 30 per cent local, even though the hotel is not offering any special New Year weekend packages.
The Apollonia also reported being completely full with tourists which left no leeway to offer packages to Cypriots for the weekend. “We simply had no space,” a hotel representative said. “We are always fully booked at New Year.”
Larnaca is more quiet with most hotels reporting 50 per cent occupancy or less, but Ayia Napa seems to be faring a little better. Adams Beach said it was almost full and that around 70 per cent of its clientele were Cypriots taking advantage of special weekend packages.
Paphos, the island’s most popular destination, has no complaints — reporting occupancy of 50 per cent and up.
The Paphos Beach said it was 90 per cent full and all were tourists, while the Azia Beach said it was half full and that around 60 per cent of the clientele were Cypriots on two- and three-night packages.
Hotel Association Director-general Zacharias Ioannides told the Sunday Mail that there is a growing trend for more Cypriots to spend a few days away at Christmas and New Year. “The main trend is still to stay at home, but more and more are taking the opportunity to go away,” he said.
Paphos and Ayia Napa were the most popular places for Cypriots, and many were choosing the mountain resorts as well.
Ioannides also said that winter tourism was doing well, with many visitors eager to escape the harsh weather in Europe for the milder climate of Cyprus.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
