This year's tourist year for Cypriot tourism will turn into last minute bookings, as on the one hand the uncertainty presented in relation to the largest market of the place (ie the British one) in combination with the negligible tourist flows so far, leave essentially this year as well. the tourism industry and related sectors.
Indicative are the data from Hermes, which provided to “P”, according to which for the period June 2021 there is a drop of about 45% in flights compared to the corresponding period of 2019.
According to Hermes Airports, for Larnaca airport in June 2019 there were a total of 5,786 departures / arrivals in contrast to June 2021 where there are scheduled 3,040 of which 610 are flights from Greece. Regarding Paphos airport, Hermes data indicate that in 2019 the departures / arrivals for the period in question were 2,006, of which 163 flights from Greece. For June 2021 the scheduled flights amount to 1,040 of which 110 from Greece.
But the most important fact that emerges from the information of Hermes Airports is that for the month of July onwards there is still no picture due to the “liquid situation”.
“Lost in the first half”
At the same time, as the general manager of PASYXE, Filokypros Rousounidis, pointed out to “P”, June 28 is considered a key date for the tourism industry, as our country's entry into the green group of countries will mitigate to some extent this year's industry losses. “Otherwise we will not enter the green category of the United Kingdom, then we will talk about the bad scenario. The first half of 2021 has already been lost and we hope that the second half will not be lost either. “So June 28 is considered a milestone for this year's tourist year”, said Mr. Rousounidis.
Our hope
It is recalled that the British government will proceed to a new categorization on June 28 and our hope is that due to the good epidemiological situation in the country, Cyprus will be able to join the green category. This translates to the fact that British nationals returning from Cyprus do not need to enter quarantine, which is certainly an important incentive to choose our island. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the only country that was on the green list until recently was Portugal, but last Thursday the UK government removed Portugal from the green list due to the deterioration of the epidemiological image of this country.
Series of contacts
It is noted that a few days ago, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Savvas Perdios, made a “lightning” trip to both the United Kingdom and Russia (our second major tourist market). As he stated in public statements, the purpose of these trips was on the one hand to inform the tourist operators in these countries that Cyprus is in a very good epidemiological picture and on the other hand to send the message in view of the impending categorization by the British government, that our country can right to enter the green category of Britain.
“That is why we have chosen to update at this time, we are seeing an improvement in the epidemiological picture and announcements are coming from the British government and we wanted to make sure that our message will be passed before these decisions are taken,” the Undersecretary of Tourism said in a statement. .
According to Mr. Perdios, in his contacts with the British side, special emphasis was placed on the fact that of all the summer tourist destinations, Cyprus has the lowest rate of positivity and the highest number of tests, while the rate of disease reproduction in Cyprus is about 0.5%. His statements in the British newspaper Telegraph were on the same wavelength, where Mr. Perdios noted that it is extremely likely that the United Kingdom will be placed on the green list of Cyprus, meaning that the progress of the epidemiological image of this country will continue, which means that British nationals will not need a mandatory test.
It should be noted, however, that the Undersecretary of Tourism was not the only one who started a series of contacts with tourist agencies. PASYXE and the President of DISY Averof Neophytou preceded, who had contacts with the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom, Stephen Lillie, in which the improved epidemiological picture of Cyprus was also discussed and the current situation was updated.
Data
According to the data of the Statistical Service, in April 2021, 38,226 tourist arrivals were recorded, compared to zero tourist arrivals recorded in April 2020, a period during which the measures to curb the spread of the pandemic were implemented in Cyprus. Compared to April 2019 (recorded 329,308 arrivals for the same period), there was a decrease of 88.4% in tourist arrivals. For the period January – April 2021, tourist arrivals amounted to 55,973 compared to 246,556 in the corresponding period of 2020, recording a decrease of 77.3% and a decrease of 91.8% compared to the period January – April 2019 (686,783 arrivals) . Arrivals from Russia were the main source of tourism for the month of April 2021, as they accounted for 41.7% (15,935) of total arrivals, while arrivals from Greece accounted for 12.8% (4,900) and arrivals from Israel. 12.6% (4,824).
