Expensive Turkey and a stable Euro led to an increase in sales of Cyprus

Tour operators are registering this spring growth in demand for package tours to Cyprus. Uncertainty BREXIT and the bankruptcy of the Germania low-cost airline led in the early spring of 2019 to a reduction in the number of tourists coming to Cyprus from its main entry markets - the UK (-6.9%) and Germany (-37%).  

As a result, in March 2019 170,000 foreign tourists visited Cyprus (-11.5%), and this is the first drop in the total tourist flow to the southern part of the island for many years. 

It is noteworthy, among all the key source markets of Cyprus only Russia showed an increase: in March almost 25 thousand Russian citizens visited Cyprus (+ 10.1% compared to March 2018). Thus, the Russian Federation in March became the second sorce market of Cyprus with a share of 14.7% of the total number of foreign tourists, surpassing Greece (8.2%) and Germany (7%). 

Tour operators confirm the trends of the Cypriot statistics - saying that the growth will take place in May from June. Demand for the destination is at least as good as a year ago and most tour operators report about sales growth. Among the factors influencing the situation, market participants note the relative stability of Euro, the preservation of last year’s prices by Cypriot hotels, substantial discounts for accommodation during early booking period (up to 40%) and Turkey, which has risen in price. 

So, TUI Russia reports about the growth of Cyprus sales during early booking by 136% compared with last year. Experts of the company do not exclude that one of the factors for the growth of interest in Cyprus was the increase in the cost for rest in Turkey. The press service of Intourist tour operator told about a 40% increase in sales, TEZ Tour informed about a 34% increase in demand. 

In summer Cyprus is characterized by a shortage of hotel rooms at popular resorts: Protaras, Ayia Napa and Limassol. According to Intourist, periodically, information on stopping sales comes from the hotels of Protaras and Ayia Napa, especially in May and June: mostly, these hotels are of level 3-4*.