Gov’t, hoteliers aim for 3rd record year in tourism

The government expects that the 2018 tourist season that starts at the end of March will be a another record year, the third in a row, with arrivals surpassing 2017 figure of 3.6 million.

Addressing the annual meeting of the hoteliers’ association Pasyxe, Energy and Tourism Minister Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said that revenue from tourism in the first eleven months of last year reached EUR 2.6 bln, up 220 mln from the 2016 figures.

“The signs for 2018 point to another good year for the Cypriot tourism,” Lakkotrypis said, adding that this is evident from the increase in seat availability by airlines and increased reservations at hotels.

Warning against complacency and that the Cyprus product should be much more than sun and sea, Lakkotrypis said that the government will commence the implementation of the National Strategy for Tourism with an outlook expanding up to 2030.

Pasyxe Chairman Haris Loizides said “our aim should be the comprehensive quality and we should invest on that, a high-level quality customer service which could contribute to having dedicated and repeat customers.”

Loizides added that the refurbishing programmes bore fruit and should continue and called for parliamentary approval of the Deputy Ministry for Tourism which would safeguard the implementation of the national strategy for tourism.

PwC CEO Evgenios Evgeniou said that according to the World Travel and Tour Council report in the next ten years tourism will constitute more than a quarter of Cyprus’ GDP, while tourism in Cyprus will support 108,000 jobs in the next decade.