Filenews 23 February 2021
The Executive Director of the Paphos EFF, Nasos Hatzigeorgiou, described the restart of the tourism industry as possible, slowly around the end of March-early April, first with domestic tourism and then possibly with visitors from Israel. In a statement, Mr Hatzigeorgiou said that "we still cannot predict with validity what is to come", adding that "we are anxiously awaiting and monitoring developments, both within the country and around the world".
He pointed out, however, that many pieces still fall short of the "puzzle" of restarting the tourism industry. It gave as an example the epidemiological picture of the countries of source of tourism, the epidemiological picture of Cyprus, the vaccination and immunisation levels of the population, both inside and outside Cyprus and the final flight schedules of airlines and tour operators. It referred, inter alia, to the dates of reopening of the destination for hotels, restaurants, activities and to the protocols for reopening the destination.
In response to a question on this matter, Mr. Hatzigeorgiou said that the field is slowly becoming clear, noting that on the one half we expect this week the decisions of the state to gradually de-climate measures against the pandemic and perhaps to allow the movement of residents of Cyprus for domestic tourism.
On the other hand, the record we have in progress with the province's hoteliers shows that a small percentage of units are expected to operate in the last week of March, more are intending to reopen in the first week of April, and most units around the first week of May 2021.
He also pointed out that yesterday the English market was made a little clear where, on the basis of the decisions of the British Government, no visitors are expected before 17 May "but we will certainly see mobility in bookings for the months of June and beyond".
In addition, he noted, uncertainty in the forecasts is causing the possibility of sanctions by the European Union on Russia which, he said, could make the situation even more difficult.
Similar uncertainty, he added, occurs for the German market, as for other European countries.
Although, he said, the landscape is slowly clearing up, there are still several unweighted factors.
Nevertheless, he estimated that the tourism industry in Cyprus could restart slowly if the epidemiological picture of the country allows it, around the end of March-early April, first with domestic tourism and then perhaps with visitors from Israel, depending on the data and categorization from various other countries which may be added at regular intervals.
"There is a need from everyone around the world to restart the tourism industry. Both from the states, from potential travellers, from airlines, tour operators, hotel and food industry and all those directly or indirectly related to the tourism industry," he concluded.
Eyenews/AFP
