As many as nine alternative markets, designed to compensate for the loss of Russian and Ukrainian tourists by Cyprus due to a special operation in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, were named by the Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios. He optimistically expects that thanks to this, the number of tourists in Cyprus will at least not be below the level of 2021. However, such optimism is highly questionable.
“Our product is more durable, the perception of what Cyprus is has become differentiated, we bring tourism with a higher level of income. We will do everything in our power to do the best we can under the circumstances,” Perdios said, speaking before the parliamentary trade committee. At the same time, he noted that the ministry expects to work “according to the worst-case scenario, which involves the complete loss of 800,000 tourists from Russia and Ukraine.”
“The shortage of Russian tourists, which corresponds to 20-25% of the estimated tourist flow this year, is difficult to make up. At the moment, there is no other market that could bring such numbers through organized packages. But, although the Russian market, the second largest market in Cyprus, cannot be completely replaced, there are significant prospects in countries such as Germany, Israel, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Sweden and Hungary,” the minister assured.< /p>
He went on to cite the following statistics: there will be 20 to 40 flights to each of these countries, compared to about 100 flights a week from Russia. The goal was set as follows: to bring the load of these flights up to 85-90%. Last year, on average, aircraft were loaded by about 70%. “If we achieve this, then only due to this, without increasing the routes, we will talk about an additional 200,000–250,000 seats, compared to what we expected to have,” the minister emphasized.
“We have always been criticized for laying all our eggs in Britain and Russia. But the 9 markets mentioned earlier are not new markets, but traditional ones, from which there have been no flights for years,” the expert added and said that the Ministry of Tourism will focus on markets from which flights are operated.
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