THE MINISTRY of Commerce, Industry and Tourism has arranged for an extraordinary meeting with tourism stakeholders tomorrow after it was revealed that bookings from the UK this year are down by 25 per cent.
The crisis meeting will brainstorm ways to deal with the dramatic reduction in tourist bookings and the enforcement of measures to support tourism.
Representatives from the CTO, tourist agencies, the Association of Cyprus Travel Agents (ACTA) and the Hoteliers Association will attend the meeting, held under the auspices of the Crisis Management Committee for tourism. The meeting will be held at the CTO offices and will be headed by the Minister of Commerce Antonis Paschalides.
Stakeholders attribute the reduction in bookings to the international financial crisis, which has affected the UK – a market that represents 50 per cent of tourist arrivals in Cyprus.
According to tourism professionals, in addition to the dramatically reduced bookings from the UK, other markets have also exhibited reductions in bookings compared to last year, making last minute bookings Cyprus’ last hope.
The aim is to control loss as much as possible, ideally to the targeted 10 per cent drop for 2009.
According to the latest information released by the Statistical Service, 375,523 tourists arrived in the first four months of 2009, compared to 411,054 in the same period last year, representing an 8.6 per cent reduction.
Tourists arrivals from the UK were even lower, with a 16.1 per cent reduction compared to last year, as 171,597 British tourists came to Cyprus in the first four months of 2009, compared to 204,597 who came in the same period last year.
The ad hoc meeting will also examine whether the tourism support measures announced in May 1 have had any effect, whether they have lead to a reduction in the prices of holiday packages and whether there was any increase in the demand for holidays in Cyprus.
The announced measures included the abolition of overnight stay fees for the period between May 2009 and April 2010 (a fee charged by local authorities to hotels), the reduction in landing fees and other fees imposed by airline companies on airports, as well as a VAT reduction from eight per cent to five per cent for hotel packages.
At the meeting hoteliers are expected to put forward the request that the measures continue to apply to the 2010 summer season, so that Cyprus can offer more competitive prices to boost next year’s season.
