Filenews 7 May 2021 - by Adamos Adamou
Hopes in the hotel industry are raised with the lifting, from Monday, of the ban on stays by Cypriots and also of the decision of the Ministry of Tourism to extend the domestic tourism aid plan. The relevant proposal of the Deputy Minister, for a new extension of the plan to boost domestic tourism, was approved on Wednesday night, Savvas Perdios told "F".
The deputy minister explained that the plan would be extended until November, but with the exception of peak summer months in July and August. In this context, in the next few days the Ministry of Tourism is expected to receive a applications from hotel units and tourist accommodations wishing to participate in the project for June. The plan, based on previous decisions, expired at the end of May but due to the ban on residents of Cyprus staying in hotels it was not actually used at all in recent times.
With the previous decisions, however, the plan is being extended and Cypriots who wish will be able to use it even for the three-day Kataklysmos holiday on 21 June. The project includes well-known tourist accommodations (Hotels, Organized Apartments, Tourist Villages, Agrotourism Accommodations), which offer the maximum price of €60 with breakfast for a double room per night. The plan provides for 35% of the cost of accommodation to be covered by the Ministry of Tourism, including charges for children staying in the same room as their parents. The minimum stay for use of the above prices has been set at two nights.
STEK and PASYXE yesterday welcomed the lifting of the ban on locals staying in hotels, but until the introduction of coronapass with either a negative test or evidence that they have been vaccinated or sick, a development that is expected to facilitate the decisions of operators in the sector to reopen their units. "We are very pleased," he noted, "that from 10 May Cypriots will also be allowed to stay in hotel units even under certain conditions at the beginning," STTEK said in a statement, while the decision was welcomed in statements to the CYPE and PASYXE Director Philocyprus Roussanidis.
