Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) and Cyprus Hotel Association (CHA) see positive trends and figures for this year`s tourist season.
Chairman of the Board of CTO Angelos Loizou and Deputy Director General of the Organization Annita Demetriades attended today a meeting of the board of the CHA, under President Harry Loizide.
Loizou said that “the first countries we give great emphasis are the traditional markets such as England and Germany, and it is fortunate to see there are positive trends in the arrival of tourists for at least the six months beginning on November 1”.
One of the main our purposes, he noted, is to lengthen the winter season. “If you look at 2015 alone it seems to be on track. There are new markets for us, such as France, Poland and neighboring Israel which gives us significant increases over the last two years as well as other Arab countries, “he added.
Concerning the Russian market, Loizou said that we are almost daily in touch with tour operators. He expressed conviction that “hopefully we can curb the reduction in 25%” adding that from what hoteliers are saying the reduction rate can be even lower.
From his part Loizides said that during the meeting they discussed the long-term strategy of CTO in view of the efforts to make the so-called `rebranding` of Cyprus. “We hope that through this dialogue that we launched we will agree on common ways to address the issues, because at the end of the day the goal is common to all, “he added.
At the same time he said that during the current tourist season it appears that the numbers in tourist arrivals are quite encouraging despite the losses from the Russian market. However, he added, we hope to continue this trend until the end of the season.