The UK government’s decision to put the country on lockdown for four weeks from Thursday has created shockwaves felt by Cyprus hotels, who have fired a distress signal.
In comments to the Cyprus News Agency, Cyprus Hotel Association (CHA) Paphos chairman Thanos Michaelides, said this development puts a further strain on hotels, as the UK lockdown has led to a series of cancellations and a freeze on bookings for next year.
Michaelides said that Paphos will be severely affected as the town’s tourism industry relies heavily on arrivals from the UK.
“We expect to see more cancellations, but also for bookings to come to a full stop. This will definitely weigh on Hoteliers decision to keep their hotels open during the winter season or close down until next summer,” said Michaelides.
He also referred to schemes that are to be announced by the Ministry of Labour to support hotel employees, from November to March.
He argued that support from the government “is an important piece of the puzzle which will help a hotelier decide whether to stay open or not and for how long”.
Michaelides said that less than half of Paphos 200 hotels are currently operational.
He also argued that 2021 will not be an easy year as there are no bookings for the first four months of the year.
UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Sunday that a second national lockdown for England will be introduced to prevent a “medical and moral disaster” for the NHS.
Johnson had said that Christmas may be “very different”, but he hoped taking action now would mean families can gather.
Pubs, restaurants, gyms, and non-essential shops will have to close for four weeks from Thursday until 2 December. But unlike the restrictions in spring, schools, colleges, and universities can stay open.
The development follows the cancellation of flights to and from the UK as Cyprus epidemiological picture has also worsened leading the UK to remove the island from its safe travel corridor list.
People arriving in the UK from Cyprus will now have to quarantine for two weeks.
Last week, British global travel group Thomas Cook said its dropping Cyprus holiday packages and flights from its programme after the island was added to the UK’s travel quarantine list.
The UK is Cyprus’ largest tourist market making up a third of annual tourist arrivals which reached 3.97 million in 2019.
