Hopes fade to keep Israeli tourism

Cyprus tourism fears that losing the Israeli market, currently the second largest source of tourists, is a reality.

In comments to the news site Stockwatch, the director general of the Cyprus Hotel Association, Thanos Michaelides, said that even if the war between Israel and Hamas ended today, the conflict would still take a heavy toll.

Michaelides explained that as things stand, Israel will no longer be the island’s second-largest market, creating another challenge following the loss of the Russian market in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine.

He confirmed there are some cancellations from Israel for next year.

The increase in arrivals from Israel in recent weeks is from Israelis and other foreign nationals evacuating the country.

“In 2022, the Russian market was lost, with Israel becoming our second largest market.

“And now there is a serious possibility that Israel will lose its spot as the second largest market due to the war.

“Our country should develop intense activities to build up other markets.”

Michaelides said the markets with positive trends are Poland, Germany and France, and they must be developed more.

He suggested a strategic focus on the German market, given its status as the largest economy in the European Union. “The German market must be developed. “Germany is the largest economy in Europe; it is closer than England in terms of distance, so ticket prices are expected to be more competitive.

“The problem we have with Germany is that we have very little exposure, and it is a country where, to produce results, a lot of money must be invested”.

Michaelides added that surveys in Paphos show that German tourists leave the island satisfied with their stay.

“The difficulty lies with convincing them to come to Cyprus. We do not have the necessary exposure in the country to build the market. Taking into consideration the sheer size of the market alone is an indication of the prospects. We will need to invest over a long period”.

According to CyStat, for the first nine months to September (before the IsraelHamas war), there were 3,136,145 arrivals from 2,540,554 last year, as Israeli tourists boosted the market.

Some 368,000 Israeli tourists have arrived this year for a holiday.

Despite the upward trend, it is still short of the benchmark year 2019, when 524,707 tourists arrived in September and 3,260,546 in the first nine months.

The UK was Cyprus’s primary tourism source during September, with a 34% share of the total arrivals (165,869).

Israel followed, contributing 11.7% (57,088), with Poland at 6.7% (32,530), Germany at 5.5% (26,907), and Sweden at 4.6% (22,196).

In 2022, Cyprus saw the loss of the Russian market, which was responsible for 800,000 arrivals every season.

Tourist arrivals from Russia in 2019, a record year, reached nearly 900,000, with the Russian market the second largest after the UK. Cyprus saw a record 3.97 million tourists in 2019.

Best October for airport traffic

The conflict in Israel has not reduced Cyprus airport traffic in October, which spiked 21% annually, according to the latest data released from Hermes Airports.

On the contrary, compared to the same month in the record year of 2019, there is a slight increase of 4.4%.

October airport traffic topped one million for the sixth month, although the annual increase was slower than in September.

According to private operator Hermes Airports, the total number of passengers handled at Larnaca and Paphos airports reached 1.2 million, up from 1.1 million in October 2022, marking an increase of 13.7%.

In September, the year-on-year growth in the number of passengers was 18.9%.

At Larnaca airport, some 880,400 passengers were handled this October, compared to 726,2000 in 2022 and 873,800 in 2019.

At Paphos airport, 368,500 passengers were handled this year, up from 372,000 last year and 322,700 in 2019.

In the first ten months of 2023, air traffic has already surpassed the number of passengers for the whole of 2022, reaching 10.4 million. In 2022, a total of 9.2 million passengers passed through Cyprus airports and 11.3 million in 2019.

Transport Minister Alexis Vafeades recently said the government is concerned about the impact on tourist arrivals that the war in Israel is likely to cause if it is prolonged.