PAPHOS HOTELS ONLY 11% FULL; CHANGE NEEDED - HOTEL ASSOCIATION

 Cyprus Mail 7 August 2020 - by Gina Agapiou

In July, those Paphos hotels which were open were about 11 per cent full, according to the Paphos Hotel Association.

In August, about 60 hotels will be open in the Paphos district, association president Thano Michaelides said. He explained that by staying open despite difficult conditions, the hotels are doing their best to maintain employment to their workers.

But, unless more tourists come to stay, hotels that are now open in Paphos will be forced to close in September and October, the hotel association added.

Hoteliers expect that August will bring more traffic in to their establishments compared with July, as the August 15 holiday period should spur local tourism as well as an influx from abroad.

Despite Paphos hotelier forecasts, August this year has the fewer hotel bookings compared with previous years, according to Michaelides.

Hotel traffic is expected to be higher mid-August, he said, while the first week was slow, and similar to July’s levels. The last week of the month is expected to be even slower than the first.

He added that hoteliers are still expecting tourists from the UK, as there is usually an influx of Cypriot expats coming into the country for family visits  and then leaving the country. The number of British visitors is too small this year, hardly enough to justify Paphos’ hotels capacity, Michaelides explained.

Michaelides assured  holidaymakers that the Cyprus Hotel Association and Paphos hotels follow the Ministry of Health’s safety protocol faithfully.

Hotel owners must change their method of operation if they want to keep their business afloat in 2021, the hotel association said on Thursday.

Next year will continue to be a difficult year for hoteliers, the president of Paphos Hotel Association told the Cyprus News Agency.

Hotels have, in the past, depended heavily on travel agencies to book groups of tourists to come to the island. The novel coronavirus crisis, however, has forced the Cyprus tourist industry to target individual tourists, Tourism Deputy Minister Savvas Perdios told the Cyprus Mail in an interview last month.

Travel agencies brought limited business this year for hotels, Michaelides told CNA. He added that Covid-19 is an opportunity “to reexamine the processes we have been following all these years.”

“The pandemic played somewhat the role of a catalyst for some market trends that were beginning to appear” Michaelides said. “We must all reconsider the way we used to operate to become more current.”