LARNACA - 15-20% CANCELLATIONS IN MARCH - SMALLER LOSSES THAN OTHER PROVINCES - CONCERN ABOUT THE FREEZING OF NEW BOOKINGS - Filenews 14/3 by Natasa Christoforou
Although Larnaca counts smaller losses than other provinces in tourist flows for March, the uncertainty caused by the prolongation of the regional conflict in the Middle East, as well as the freezing of new bookings, cause concern among its tourism operators.
Speaking to "F", the president of PASYXE Larnaca, Marios Polyviou, said that he must make it clear that our country is a safe destination, indicating that tourism operators are waiting for the implementation of what was discussed at the recent meeting at the Presidential Palace under Nikos Christodoulidis. As he explained, for March there are cancellations due to the initial cancellation of flights from European countries, and due to the prevailing situation. "For us in Larnaca, cancellations for March are between 15% and 20% and hotel occupancy rates do not exceed 40%, while at this time they should have been close to 60%. There are also some cancellations in April, which are currently not in huge numbers," he noted, clarifying, however, that "new bookings have been completely frozen". The positive thing, as Mr. Polyviou explained, is that there are no mass cancellations for the summer. "Those who cancel usually reschedule for later after their booking, that is, they wait for the situation to end and that is why we do not have mass cancellations," he stressed.
The president of PASYXE Larnaca also added that the cancellations in Larnaca proportionally are in smaller percentages than in Paphos and free Famagusta, however, there are losses. "There are cancellations and it's not like last June (12-day war), when there was a lot of demand because the Israeli government had called on its nationals to gather either in Larnaca or Athens and wait for the opening of Tel Aviv airport. This time this phenomenon was not observed, because we had flight cancellations from Europe as well," he noted, clarifying that it is very positive that connectivity has been restored at least with EU countries. "It definitely helps that flights from Europe have resumed, since in addition to the fact that no people were coming, this also sent the wrong messages. It was very important that all flights started from all EU member states and from all airlines. Only from the Middle East are there cancellations and this is because the airports from which the flights would start are closed", said Mr. Polyviou in conclusion.
