While projections for holiday arrivals based on tourist bookings indicate the sector will not be able to match last year’s high, the Easter break gave hotels and tourist enterprises a reason to smile as Cypriots gave the industry a lift.
Stakeholders in the industry told the Financial Mirror they are pleased with tourist traffic during the Easter Holiday, with resort towns seeing a significant increase in tourists.
Paphos hotels alone saw a 5% increase in bookings while local restaurants got a bigger share of the action.
Loukas Nikiforou, from the Paphos Tourism Board, said that touristic enterprises in Paphos were given a boost from local tourists who chose to head for the southwestern corner of the island for their Easter vacation.
He said that, just like all tourism stakeholders in Paphos, the local Tourism Board is happy with the flow of local visitors to the town, especially from Nicosia.
“We feel that this is the result of the hard work and campaigns we had during the year,” said Nikiforou.
He added that Cypriots are drawn by Easter events such as traditional games and dance shows organised by the Folklore Association ‘Ktima’ and the local communities.
“This was a good start for the season, although we do not expect it to match last year’s figures.”
Also satisfied with the flow of local tourists is Ayia Napa Mayor Yiannis Karousos who said that hoteliers in the region had a reason to smile as hotel occupancy reached higher levels than last year’s Easter holiday.
“Thousands of Cypriots chose to spend their holiday in Ayia Napa, and we consider it an achievement for all local tourism stakeholders,” said Karousos.
He said Cypriots were drawn to the small seaside town by a number of Easter events, such as traditional games, and folklore singing and dancing.
Karousos said that the event organised by the Ayia Napa Municipality on the night of Holy Saturday had drawn 7,000 people to the town square.
Karousos said that the flow of tourists to Ayia Napa during the Easter break renewed hope for a good season regarding tourist arrivals and hotel occupancy, although bookings are lower than last year.
Larnaca tourism stakeholders seem to be pleased with the flow of local tourists to the town during Orthodox Easter, with restaurants and beaches full of holidaymakers.
Larnaca Tourism Board’s Nana Asmeni said that although hotel occupancy was lower than the same period last year, there was a significant increase in tourist flow to the town.
Asmeni explained that the increase in tourist flows during holidays such as Easter, mainly consists of locals. Due to Larnaca’s proximity to almost every other town, Cypriots visiting do not opt to spend the night there.
“Local tourists were drawn in by events organised by villages and communities, with the Easter events in the village of Lefkara being particularly successful,” said Asmeni.
However, she did appear concerned over the decrease in bookings for the upcoming summer months. “Insecurity caused by Brexit, the closure of a number of airlines and increased competition from neighbouring destinations make things difficult for us.”
The LTB official did, however, note that there are new additions to local tourist sites with new restaurants, while four new hotels are expected to open in Autumn 2019.
Asmeni said that the board will be happy if the town sees a number close to the 460,000 foreign tourists who stayed in Larnaca last year.
Larnaca is putting its money on developing leisure alternatives offered by the town such as sports tourism, wreckage dives, civil weddings and agritourism.
“Some of the new hotels to be built this year will contribute, as we believe, in promoting conference tourism, as they will have the necessary facilities,” said Asmeni.
