Ministre du Commerce : le tourisme à Chypre en hausse de 10 pour cent

Tourist arrivals have increased by over 10 per cent since October, with revenue from tourism getting a 13.6 per cent boost along the way, according to Commerce Minister Praxoulla Antoniadou.

Antoniadou was addressing the 29th General Assembly of the Cyprus Hotel Manager’s Association (PASYDIXE) yesterday.

“Despite the ongoing economic crisis worldwide, this positive picture of Cypriot tourism will continue throughout 2012, too,” said Antoniadou.

According to the Commerce minister, the main arrivals to the island are from countries such as Russia, Germany and other Central European markets, with Cyprus’ biggest market – the UK – becoming stable in the influx of tourists after a few “difficult years”.

PASYDIXE head, Polis Kallis, echoed a similar sentiment saying that the new year looks promising, with reservations for 2012 having reached 47 per cent already.

Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) head Alecos Orountiotis described this year as a milestone for CTO as they have succeeded in implementing their multidimensional vision for Cyprus tourism through the Tourism Strategy 2011–2015, which consists of focused priorities and actions.

“Recent developments at Thomas Cook confirms the shocks suffered by the traditional forms of tourism reliant on travel agents, while at the same time the tendency of agents to send their customers to a small number of hotels, and … the number of people choosing low cost airlines, is on the rise,” said Orountiotis.

The company, through which half a million tourists visit Cyprus each year, recently ran into financial difficulties.

According to Orountiotis, this requires a review of priorities and a re-design of hotel policy.