Filenews 25 March 2022 - by Dora Christodoulou
The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and especially the pan-European measures against Moscow, had since the beginning of the Russian invasion, raised the alarm among the tourist operators of the Pafos district, albeit vaguely, but some hope of the local actors for a timely ceasefire was kept alive so that there would be a rudimentary tourist flow to Cyprus in the summer. Now, with the situation being clear that it is far from smooth, any plans in Paphos for any eventuality have been abandoned and efforts are focused on the full exploitation of the British tourist flow and the possible replacement of the Russian with Central European markets.
The tourist flow from the two countries to Cyprus was expected to increase especially this year, which is why the tourist operators of Paphos are talking about unpredictable and painfully difficult next day for tourism. The consequences of hostilities are not yet so immediate for the tourism industry, they explained, since traditionally Russians start booking for the summer holidays from May and not as early as the British. "We would therefore say that the consequences for our tourism of the ban on flights from Russia are not so immediate in March or April, but we will feel them for good from May and throughout the summer," they said. "These are certainly developments that will have a significant impact on our tourism things anyway for the rest of 2022, but it is still early to flesh them out."
As a positive counterweight to the negative data from the war in Ukraine, the tourism operators argue, is that at this stage there is great interest in tourist packages in Paphos from Britain, while in March traditionally the corresponding process from central Europe begins.
"PASYXE Pafos in cooperation with ETAP and other bodies", pointed out the president of Paphos hoteliers, Thanos Michaelides, "will repeat this year's campaign to promote Paphos as a destination in foreign markets, after last year's very successful action. Therefore, we believe that we will have very positive results from this action as well."
The rapid developments marked by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, modify the plans of the economic operators for the 2022 tourist season, since until recently both the improvement of the data around the pandemic and the first bookings from the major markets for tourist packages, showed that we would leave behind us the disastrous two years of the coronavirus. The war front, however, is diversifying at a very negative pace the data on Cypriot tourism and other trade, economic factors said.
"Pafos in recent years has begun to grow significantly its share of the pie of Russian tourism and business activities," the said said, "which also increases the ominous data for its tourism this year. The consequences will not be as dramatic as the free area of Famagusta, which is the traditional destination for Russians in Cyprus, but is now an important component for Paphos, which, however, is still the main gateway for British tourism on the island.
