HOTELS around the island yesterday painted a bleak picture of the tourism industry this summer.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, the majority said tourism numbers were far reduced compared to the corresponding period last year, and some feared another “bad” summer would be the end of them.
“Bookings for the winter season were abysmal compared to last winter, and the summer season is already looking set to be very low,” said a reservations employee at the Queen’s Bay Hotel in Paphos. “I don’t know if things will pick up later on because it depends on what offers are made by the tour operators.”
She said this year was worse than any other year, despite the fact that Paphos had so far managed to retain its popularity in comparison to other resorts. “Tourists haven’t started arriving yet, but they should have by now. April and May used to be two good months and now this year they are not.”
Larnaca’s Palm Beach Hotel voiced similar a predicament. “Unfortunately, the situation is much worse this year and in general numbers are very reduced.”
She said March was usually a quiet month, but added coming months’ bookings were cause for concern.
“We don’t usually have a lot of tourists at this time of the year and although the numbers are still unsatisfactory, we are more worried about the months to come. Tourists seem to be more reserved this year, so let’s just hope that the situation will improve at the last minute like it did last year.” Last year’s US-led attack on Iraq led to huge cancellations at the last minute, plunging the island’s number one industry into disarray. Arrivals picked up mid-season, as fears of terrorist retaliation attacks in the region eased off.
Thalia Irodotou at the Sandy Beach Hotel in Larnaca echoed similar fears. “Preliminary indications are not good. I don’t know if we’re going to work with last minute bookings or not. It all depends on whether or not the tour operators decide to work with last-minute special offers. The season begins tomorrow (April 1) so we’ll have a better picture of the situation in a few weeks’ time. For the time being we’ll just have to wait and see,” said Irodotou.
But Andreas Pantelis at Limassol’s Ajax hotel said that if last year’s numbers were repeated, “we’ll all be going to jail”.
“Things are very, very bad this year and I can only hope we won’t have a repeat of last year and that the situation will change. So far, we have noticed a five to six per cent decrease on last year,” said Pantelis.
Several Ayia Napa hotels, which wished to remain unnamed for fear of bad publicity, had similar stories. “Tourism numbers are very low for April as well as the months to come. Things are much worse than last year,” they all said.
Only two hotels contacted by the Cyprus Mail yesterday said they had noticed an increase in bookings compared to last year.
The Arsinoe Beach Hotel in Limassol said it was currently fully booked and that in the coming months it was expecting large numbers of English, Russian and Polish tourists.
“We have an even occupancy rate at the moment, with a constant flow of reservations for the months to come,” said Mary Economidou, who heads the three star hotel’s reservations department. “We already have increased bookings for May and June and more are expected as the summer season kicks off.”
The Adams Beach Hotel in Ayia Napa said it too had had a similar increase on last year. “Our bookings are a bit better than last year because one third of our customers are repeaters. This is very important and makes all the difference,” said Yiannis Xydas, the hotel’s general manager. He added that he believed the good hotels would work this year.
No one was yesterday available for comment at the Cyprus Tourism Organisation.
