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The hoteliers in the province of Famagusta are modestly optimistic for 2023

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Συγκρατημν&alpha ; αισιόδοξοι για το 2023 οι ξενοδόχοι στην επαρχiα Αμμοχoστου

The hoteliers remain modestly optimistic for 2023, in the province of Famagusta, expecting, as Doros Takkas, President of PASYXE Famagusta told KYPE, that the new tourist year will move at the same levels as in 2022 although there will be difficulties.

Mr. Takkas added that “when Russia's invasion of Ukraine began at the beginning of the year, the free province of Famagusta was affected much more than any other in Cyprus, due to its dependence on specific markets. This situation created in the hotel industry and beyond, a big gap, since from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus we expected to receive about one million tourists”.

Considering that “8 out of ten tourists ended up in the free province of Famagusta, one can easily understand that we had to deal with a hole of around 700 thousand, which was impossible to cover. Precisely because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, several of the hotels in our area remained closed because they were 100% occupied by Russians, while there were hotels that hosted citizens from Ukraine.”

However, he continued, “in connection with the efforts made by all, namely the Ministry of Transport, the Under-Ministry of Tourism and the All Cyprus Association of Hoteliers, it became possible to secure tourists from existing markets with the result that the occupancy of hotels in the free province of Famagusta is considered satisfactory”.

“2022 ends leaving us satisfied with tourism traffic, despite the fact that there was a huge explosion in the costs of hotels and other businesses, with increases in various products and services such as electricity and raw materials “, he noted.

Asked about what is expected for 2023, Mr. Takkas replied that “based on what we see existing and prevailing today, we see that next year will also be a difficult year, perhaps even more difficult than 2022. What we could let's wait is a year which will move hopefully within the framework of 2022”.

He also noted that “the increases we had in '22 are still there, while air tickets and traffic are increasing since fuel prices, especially airplanes, have skyrocketed. For 2022, there were pre-agreed prices for jet fuel prices, so the price of tickets was not affected as much, while the biggest damage from this issue was mostly absorbed by hoteliers who offered services at the same prices.

As Mr. Takkas said “if we take into account the economic situation prevailing in the countries from which we derive tourism, namely Britain and Europe, we realize that we are entering an era where things are not going well at all ».

“The whole situation does not allow us to be particularly optimistic, however this does not mean that we will give up and continue the effort in order to return to the tourism levels we had in 2019”, he said.

Given that, he continued “that the war is raging and it can turn into something worse and with the economic situation not being at its best internationally,   it is hard to see something positive and expect a better year in the tourism sector. Our forecasts are made with what we have in front of us today”, he said and noted that “tomorrow we may have other data, worse or better and we will have to reshape everything that we will have in front of us”.

Concluding the President of PASYXE Famagusta stated that “we expect 2023 to be a tourist year very close to 2022, which we consider to have been, under the circumstances, satisfactory”.

“However, we remain modestly optimistic for better days in future” he noted.

Source: www.reporter.com.cy

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