Cyprus Hotel Association (PASYXE) President Thanos Michaelides has stressed the necessity of extending the tourist season and increasing the number of hotel units that operate throughout the year, estimating that Cyprus has a loss of about 30,000 tourists and an estimated loss of €25 million this tourist season.

In statements to CNA, Michaelides added that this will reduce seasonality in the labour market and at the same time increase trade and state revenues, while at the same time, the stability that will be created for workers in the tourism industry will push even more people to engage in the tourism professions.

According to PASYXE President, an equally important challenge is the shortage of human resources. Indicatively, he said that the tourism industry employs about 53,000 people, which corresponds to 11% of the employed population of Cyprus. These include a large number of professionals with technical and academic skills such as chefs, IT professionals, lawyers, accountants, engineers, waiters, etc. Employing all these professionals makes the industry very important because its progress has a wide impact on the economy and the labour market, he added.

Referring to the challenges for this year, Michaelides said these are several, noting that "2024 does not seem to have the same performance as last year and it is estimated that annual occupancy rates in hotels will be lower compared to 2023 occupancy rates."

He explained the main reasons for this decline were "the sudden crisis in the Middle East, the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine, the slowdown in the UK economy, the fact that the Catholic Easter was in March and the reduction in the number of flights to Cyprus, which corresponds to about 150,000 fewer tourist arrivals".

He also pointed out that the beginning of June saw the bankruptcy of Germany's third largest tour operator.

As a result, he said, Cyprus' tourism industry has for this season a loss of about 30,000 tourists and an estimated loss of €25 million.

He also identified as a major challenge Cyprus' limited access to most potential tourist markets. “It is widely known that our industry is heavily dependent on the UK market, while there is low visibility of Cyprus in important Central European markets, such as that of Germany, and almost no visibility in perhaps the world's most important tourism market, that of the US”, he concluded.