After Wednesday’s cabinet meeting he said: “Our goal was to remain close to the same performance as last year in terms of tourist arrivals and based on the data published by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat), we are achieving this.” 

The latest data from Cystat, showed a 5.5 per cent increase in arrivals in June and a 2.4 per cent overall increase for the first half of the year. “It is important to underline that these figures are actually an increase on last year’s increase of 20.1 per cent,” he said. Despite these good figures, Koumis said that tourism was not just about statistics and revenues. The government was committed to implementing broad policies. It had recently addressed labour issues in the tourism sector while the energy ministry introduced a scheme aimed at reducing energy costs for hotels.  Additionally, several projects have been announced to enhance the tourism product.

Koumis mentioned that incentive plans have been introduced with local authorities, also assisting in improving the tourism product. “Our responsibility as a government is to fully utilise the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), and this is something that we, at the Deputy Ministry, are placing special emphasis on, hence the announcements of incentive and sponsorship plans.” He said local government and businesses had a responsibility to take advantage of these incentive plans.

Asked whether the ministry’s forecasts for arrivals would be revised, Koumis remained cautious. “We were very specific in what we were saying,” he said, pointing out that the geopolitical instability in the region and the economic downturn in several central and western European economies could still have an impact on arrivals. “It is well known that the purchasing power of thousands of households in the UK, Germany, Belgium and other countries has been reduced and all this is affecting tourism, and we are seeing the effects,” he said.

Koumis also pointed out that the average length of stay has decreased, a trend observed month by month. Despite the difficulties, the minister remained positive about this year’s prospects. “Our goal was very specific – to stay close to the same records as last year, and based on the data just published, we are achieving that.”

Source: Cyprus Mail