Hoteliers say situation is ‘managable’

The cancellation of flights from the Middle East to Cyprus seen over the last week does not affect the tourism sector too much, as most tourists still come from Europe, President of the Cyprus Hoteliers Association (Pasyxe) Thanos Michaelides said on Saturday.

The situation is currently “manageable”, Michaelides said, adding that based on existing experience, tourism will recover once the crisis is over.

He emphasised that the main source of supply for Cypriot tourism is Europe, which is not currently experiencing many flight cancellations as most of the flights cancelled amid the current tensions with Iran departed to or from the Middle East.

He expressed optimism about the resumption of flights, which he believed would lead to a return of Israeli tourists.

Nevertheless, Michaelides stressed that these messages needed to be conveyed with caution, as the potential repercussions of tourism being impacted would be grave.

Several flights to and from destinations in the Middle East were cancelled at Larnaca and Paphos airports on Saturday.

Accounting for 11.40 per cent of arrivals, Israelis have recently emerged as the third largest tourist market for the island.

Compared to Brits at 22.7 per cent and Polish visitors at 13.7 per cent, tourists from Israel had significantly higher daily spendings with average daily expenditure reaching €168.90.

Meanwhile Brits recorded an average daily expenditure of €87.68 per day and Polish tourists spend an average of €82.97 per day.