Panagiotis Konstantinou, President of the Famagusta Hoteliers Association (PASYXE) in Cyprus, anticipates that hotel occupancy in the free Famagusta district will range between 20-30% for January and February of the new year.
Konstantinou added that “during the Christmas and New Year holidays, there was some tourist activity in the region; however, it remained at low levels, with hotel occupancy fluctuating around 50-60%. Perhaps, even today, some of the hotels that remain open may have some occupancy, but January is expected to be challenging.”
Hoteliers, he continued, “are looking forward to sports teams from European countries arriving in the Ayia Napa area, especially for training, and some groups to achieve partial occupancy. However, due to the war in Gaza, the situation is negative, and there is little optimism for tourist movement in our area in the coming months.”
Responding to a related question, Mr. Konstantinou said, “Occupancy for January and February is expected to be around 20-30%, while March has some potential for attracting tourism.”
He also noted that “in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, we are constantly exploring other markets and participating in tourism exhibitions held in various European and Middle Eastern countries. Our expectation is to attract tourists to our region from other markets such as Poland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and Scandinavian countries, to fill the gap created by the absence of Israelis.”
He further stated that “several hotels in the area had good occupancy even in November, but the war in Gaza reduced the interest of tourist agents and companies because they do not know how long this situation will continue.”
