Extra boost for hotels and hospitality from successive holiday weekends

Hotels and hospitality venues did well over the past holiday weekend, setting the tone for the next two to come. However, the issues the two sectors have been facing are still there, according to the Director General of the Cyprus Hotel Association (PASYXE), Philokypros Roussounides.

Speaking to InBusinessNews, Roussounides said he was pleased with how hotel bookings went over the Carnival weekend and Green Monday, particularly in Limassol.

“There was a lot of traffic, mainly in Limassol due to the carnival celebrations,” he said. “The hotels that opened reached 80% capacity in some cases.”

At the same time, there were increased bookings in the mountain regions as well as the rest of the districts.

“There were some fully-booked hotels in Paphos, but not at the levels of Limassol. There were also reservations in certain hotels that opened in the free Famagusta district,” said Roussounides.

As for hotel rates, the PASYXE official said there are plenty of options for all. “The prices were quite reasonable, I think there are a lot of options and the visitors can choose according to their spending abilities,” he said.

As for the problems the hotel industry has long been facing – primarily staff shortages – Roussounides said even though they still exist, they haven’t prevented hotels from operating smoothly; for the time being.

“As bookings weren’t particularly high, the hotels that did open managed to function, even though with a certain rate of difficulty,” he explained.

As for the holiday weekends coming up, Roussounides said he was expecting bookings to be high again, but not as high as the past three-day holiday.

“We are very last-minute; we are expecting some bookings, but not as many as the past holiday weekend,” he said.