Economic difficulties due to the financial crisis was the main reason why Cypriots were not able to go on vacation in 2013, according to the figures published Thursday by the Eurobarometer entitled “Preferences of Europeans towards tourism”.
The Eurobarometer was carried out at the request of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry by the TNS Political & Social network in the 28 Member States of the European Union, and in Turkey, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Montenegro and Israel, between 6 and 11 January 2014.
According to the survey, 73% of Cypriots who did not go on vacation in 2013 said that they could not due to financial difficulties, while only one in ten stated that they are not affected by the crisis in 2014.
33% of Cypriots said they would reduce their holiday duration this year and 19% of those who planned to go on holidays this year said they could not.
From those who stated they will go for holidays, 25% said they would prefer to stay in Cyprus, 42% said they would travel to Greece, and the rest said they would prefer other EU or third countries.
As regards 2013, 73% of Cypriots who said they did not have holidays explained that the reason was due to financial difficulties. This was the second highest percentage in the study (the highest was in Greece, 81%), while the EU average was 54%.
37% of Cypriots who did go on holidays in 2013 preferred to stay in resorts in Cyprus, while 53% said they went to Greece.
As regards holiday plans for 2014 Union-wide, in ten countries, over 50% of respondents say that they will go on holiday without changing their plans, and in four countries over 70% of people say this: Austria (75%), Germany (74%), Denmark (72%) and Norway (70%). At the other end of the scale, less than a fifth of people give this answer in three countries: Greece (10%), Cyprus (12%) and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (17%). In Greece (54%), over half of the respondents say that they will still go on holiday but will change their plans, as do almost half in Italy (49%) and Ireland (48%). In 12 countries, at least four in ten people will go on holiday while changing their plans.
Two countries stand out as having an especially high proportions of respondents who say they will not go on holiday as a result of the economic situation: Turkey (38%) and Greece (26%). At least 15% of respondents give this response in 10 countries, although in many countries only a small minority say they will abandon their holiday plans altogether.
Estonia (10%) is the only country in which a tenth of respondents say that they never go on holiday. In Malta (25%), one in four respondents were not able to give an answer.
As mentioned above, one third of respondents (33%) say that the economic situation had an impact their holiday plans. This impact is reflected in a number of ways.
One in five respondents (20%) say that they will go on holiday but that they will spend less. This is the most common response in ten countries, including Greece (39%), Cyprus (33%), Slovenia (33%) and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (33%). In contrast, only 8% of people in Denmark and Germany say they will spend less during their holiday. Around a tenth of respondents (9%) say that the current economic situation will affect the length of their holiday.
In most countries relatively few people give this answer, although 20% of people in Greece, 16% in Italy and 15% in Ireland do so.
At EU level, just 7% of people say that they will go on holiday at a different time of year. Ireland (13%), Italy (12%), Portugal (11%) and Israel (11%) have the highest proportions of people who plan to do this.
Very few people plan to change their holiday destination: only 4% of respondents say they will do this. Over a fifth of people in Cyprus (22%) and Malta (21%) say spontaneously that they have not yet planned their holiday for 2014.
Finally, a small minority (2%) mention that they are likely to spend more, with the highest number (6%) sharing this view in Poland.
