Deputy Minister of Tourism, Kostas Koumis, said Wednesday that the goal as regards tourist arrivals for this year was to remain close to the figures of last year, noting that based on the statistical data we are achieving this goal.

In statements after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Koumis said that based on the arrivals data from the Statistical Service of Cyprus that were published on Wednesday, there was an increase of 5.5% for June and 2.4% for the first half of the year. 

"It is important to underline that these figures are an increase of last year's rise which was 20.1%", he went on to say.

He added that in recent months solutions have been given in relation to the labor issues in the tourism industry, a program has been announced by the Ministry of Energy to reduce the energy costs of the hotel industry and the Deputy Ministry has announced a series of plans to improve the tourism product with incentive plans for both the hotel industry and local authorities.

Koumis also said that the government wants to fully utilize the EU Recovery and Resilience Fund.

Asked whether the Deputy Ministry's forecasts for arrivals are being revised upwards, he said that they were aware that they had to face challenges that come mainly from the geopolitical instability in the region.

Furthermore, he said that the purchasing power of thousands of households in the UK, Germany, Belgium and other countries has been reduced noting that this is affecting tourism and the side effects are evident. 

Koumis said that the average length of stay has decreased and the trend continues to fall month by month.

"Our target was very specific, it was to stay close to last year's performance, and based on the figures that have just been released, we are achieving that goal," he concluded.