Filenews 26 March 2025
Tourist bookings in Paphos for 2025 are expected to be at the same levels as in 2024, according to the President of the Paphos Hoteliers Association, Euripides Loizides, who spoke to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).
As he said, although pre-bookings for the summer of 2025 recorded an increase of 7-10% between November 2024 and January 2025, from February onwards there is a slowdown, resulting in the overall picture remaining stable. "The economic crisis began to have a serious impact," he noted.
Shorter length of stay – Seasonality remains
Mr. Loizides also referred to the average duration of vacation, which is limited to 7 days, compared to the 10 days recorded in 2019. At the same time, he underlined the dependence of Cypriot tourism on the markets of the United Kingdom, Israel, Poland, Greece, Germany and France.
Regarding the tourist seasonality, he described it as a "big problem", expressing the assessment that it will gradually disappear. For Paphos, he said that "it is a matter of time to move away from seasonality", noting that in winter there were 10,000 beds, an indication of a trend towards extending the season.
Workforce and Airbnb Challenge
The President of the Hoteliers Association also referred to the problem of staff shortages in the hotel sector, noting that while licenses have been granted for the import of foreign labour, the procedures require speeding up.
At the same time, he stressed that a third of visitors choose Airbnb-type accommodation or unlicensed units, calling on the local government to intensify controls. "It's up to the local authorities to deal with illegal accommodation," he said.
Finally, he noted that more and more Cypriots are abandoning the tourist season and moving to businesses with year-round operation, which affects the availability of personnel.
