Chairman of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Alecos Orountiotis said on Wednesday that “due to increased demand, this Summer we will be doing very well,“ and that projections for 2011 indicated that “we will be having an actual and substantive recovery.“

Addressing the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises (ACTE), Orountiotis said that Cypriot tourism is “a sensitive construction“ and called on all parties involved to keep in mind the short and long-term prospects of tourism.

He said that in 2010 efforts were made in a very harsh environment, with the consequences of the global financial crisis, the eruption of the volcano in Iceland, the global drop in recreation trips from Britain, reduced credit, pressure from travel organisers, viability problems faced by travel agents and air carriers, and the void left by the closing of Eurocypria airline.

“However, the tourist economy has managed to survive and once again proved that it is one of the few remaining activities that can effectively contribute to the support and recovery of the Cypriot economy,“ he said, adding that “in the midst of the crisis and after hard work, revenue from tourism has substantively contributed to support the GDP growth rate, achieving an increase that approached +4%, and which could have been even better if there had been more funds available to promote action and cooperation.“