Filenews 3 July 2024 - by Adamos Adamou
The President of the Republic had good news in store yesterday for hoteliers and tourism in general, as it announced the increase of the budget of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism by €10 million in 2025, to promote the country abroad, satisfying a long-standing demand of tourism partners.
He also noted the prospect of direct air connectivity between Cyprus and the US, revealing that an American company is already in our country, examining this prospect. The possibility of a direct air connection with the US was included by President, who was speaking from the podium of the PASYXE General Assembly, in the initiation of a strategic dialogue with America, which is estimated to soon lead to the abolition of visas for Cypriot citizens.
At the same time, President Christodoulides officially informed about the satisfaction of another request of hoteliers, namely the establishment on a five-year basis of a plan for the training of employees in hotel units that are partially or totally suspended, so that the hotels that operate all year round will increase.
This plan, he said, will subsidize work and not unemployment – as you had requested, he said addressing hoteliers – and noted that it has recently been completed in cooperation with PASYXE and the Cyprus Association of Tourism Enterprises (ACTE).
He also referred to the resolution of the staffing problem of hotels and the acceleration of the examination of applications for foreign personnel.
Incentives, not fees
Despite last year's positive performance and the increase observed so far for this year, PASYXE President Thanos Michaelides did not hide his concern for this year. At the same time, he stressed the need for changes, flexibility in the labour market, strategic planning for sustainability and reiterated the association's opposition to the imposition of new overnight fees in the context of green taxation.
For 2023 and despite the increase in visits and revenue, he explained that arrivals do not correspond 1:1 to hotel occupancy. He said, citing data, that average gross annual occupancy in hotels last year did not reach 50%. "The data shows that 34% of all foreign visitors chose to stay in occupied Cyprus or in licensed and unlicensed tourist accommodation, which is available for short-term rental," he added.
