Cyprus tourism revenue drops in April

Hoteliers call for accelerated reform

Revenue from tourism in Cyprus dropped by a huge 14.0% compared with the same month of the previous year in April, having risen by 13.2% year on year in March.

Although the fall was partly for seasonal reasons–Western Easter was celebrated in March in 2005 but in April in 2004–the result followed the recent trends that were highlighted at the annual general meeting of the Hoteliers’ Association on May 31st, namely that revenue from tourism has consistently underperformed the number of tourist arrivals.

While arrivals fell year on year by 4% in April, revenue fell by 14%. For 2004 as a whole, arrivals rose by 2.0% but revenue fell by 3.2%.

The chairman of the Hoteliers’ Association, Haris Loizides, said that Cyprus currently suffers from being an “in-between” destination–neither good quality nor cheap.

He therefore called for an acceleration of the government’s strategic plan for tourism to 2010. This was first drawn up in 2000, but progress has been slow and the strategy has recently been revamped.

The strategy includes new golf courses, a conference centre in Limassol, incentives to withdraw low-quality bed capacity and a new grading system for hotels. The introduction of casinos, currently banned in the southern part of the island, is also being considered.