EFirst came Covid, now the Russians are not coming – the past three years have been bad for Cyprus’ tourism industry. Travelers from Russia used to account for a good fifth of turnover in Cypriot tourism. Only the British left more money. That’s over for now. There are no more flights from Russia to Cyprus. The island can only be reached indirectly, for example from Moscow via Istanbul. But this route is rarely chosen, as was shown in May. Around the Russian holiday of May 9th, the Greek south of Cyprus otherwise experienced the first rush from Russia. Not this year, especially since the majority of the Ukrainian guests are of course also absent. Together with Russians, they accounted for about a quarter of the industry’s sales.
The slump in booking numbers compared to the last season before Covid was around 50 percent in May. This was particularly evident in Limassol, the focal point of Russian life in Cyprus. Hotels that cater to Russian guests face “huge difficulties,” said Haris Loizides, chairman of Cyprus’s largest hotel association, recently. The Ministry of Tourism said that a loss of income of 600 million euros is expected this year. The hope of getting large numbers of Russian customers into the country via countries that still have air traffic with Russia – apart from Turkey, Serbia would also be an option – seems slim.
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