He added that even November saw high occupancy levels for all hotels
Satisfactory and very good characterized the year that is leaving us in terms of tourist arrivals and hotel occupancy in the city and province of Larnaca, Marios Polyviou, President of the local Association of Hoteliers.
In his statements to KYPE he said that “the year he is leaving us was very good and satisfactory and during it both the center and the tourist area of ​​Larnaca worked, while the city managed, due to certain circumstances, to extend even for a while the tourist season. After all, this is the goal of all tourism operators throughout Cyprus”, he said.
He added that “even November moved to high occupancy levels for all hotels, especially those in the city center, which are all open and which continue to have fairly good occupancy levels in December. The hotels in the tourist area of ​​Pyla and Oroklini are taking advantage of the winter season and their low occupancy rates to proceed with renovations in order to be ready for the next tourist season,” he added.
Mr. Polyviou expressed the assessment that “the time will close with numbers that are very close to the occupancies of 2019, we estimate around 5% below the specific time. We characterize this year as the first after the corona virus pandemic, during which we had a successful tourist season”, he pointed out.
Asked about the predictions made by the competent tourism agencies for 2024 for Larnaca, the President of PASYXE replied that “there is nothing worrying on the horizon other than the situation that prevails with the Israel-Hamas war. We hope that the war will end and that the situation can return to normal because” he said, noting that “Israel is the second largest market for Cyprus and especially for Larnaca since it is considered very important”.
In another question, Mr. Polyviou answered that “in the months of October, November and December, the situation with tourist arrivals was balanced by some other markets that came to Cyprus but also to Larnaca, due to the war in Israel. However, the numbers did not show that there was a big loss of tourism,” he said.
As for the Russian market, he said that “essentially this market is dead, since compared to the numbers that came in previous years, the tourists from this country there are very few, precisely because of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Out of the 800 thousand tourists coming to Cyprus from Russia, this year we had only 40 which is a zero number for the numbers from this particular market”. “, Mr. Polyviou noted that “the numbers recorded in Larnaca demonstrate the general development that exists in the city and in particular in the tourism industry”.
