The results of the summer season in Cyprus

Following the results of 9 months of 2018, the Russian tourist flow to Cyprus decreased by almost 5%. According to the estimates of tour operators, due to attractive prices in the winter period, the direction will be able to show a positive dynamics for all the year. According to the Cyprus Tourism Organization (CAT), in January-September, 669 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation visited the country, while in the same period of 2017 it was about 703 thousand arrivals. According to these data, the Russian market showed steady growth in March (13.7%) and April (4.3%), but then, due to fluctuations of ruble exchange rate and the 2018 World Cup there was a slight decrease (about 5–6%) in indicators against last season, the pace of which, however, slowed down in September (-4.1%). In September, Cyprus was visited by 116.5 thousand of the Russians, which exceeded the volume of August of the current year by almost 3%. According to tour operators, despite the difficult season, they are satisfied with the results of sales of Cyprus: despite all the “influence factors”, including the warm summer weather in most of central Russia and competition with Turkey, the destination showed a good result. “The demand was lower than last year’s by about 5–6%. In general, in the season 2018 sales were at the level of our expectations,” commented Lilia Parfenova, the Sales Director of the Moscow Region of PEGAS Touristik tour operator. ANEX Tour operator notes that Cyprus sales in the summer season remained approximately the same as last year. After adjusting of the flight program for the summer at the beginning of August, ANEX Tour replaced the type of airplane with a more commodious one and expanded the flight program to the beginning of November. Cyprus has been traditionally a family holiday destination, which in 2018 caused a high demand for hotels on all-inclusive basis. As it was emphasized in PEGAS Touristik, first of all tourists are attracted by hotels on the first coastline with a good location and quality rooms. There is no tendency in reduction of the number of nights: as well as in previous seasons, tourists preferred both weekly options and long holidays - 10–14 nights.