The prospects for tourism are very encouraging and the future appears to be even better, especially if the situation following the Eurogroup decision stabilizes soon, Tourism Minister George Lakkotrypis has pointed out.
The Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism presided over a meeting at the offices of Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO) in Nicosia on Wednesday with the Hotel Association and the Tour Operators.
Speaking to the press after the meeting, CTO President Alekos Orountiotis said that so far there hasn’t been a serious problem with holiday bookings cancellations.
The Minister on his behalf noted that the recent developments in Cyprus, confirm the pivotal role the tourist industry plays.
He said that the prospects are encouraging and the responsibility lies with each and everyone of us to protect tourism.
Lakkotrypes also stressed that any insecurity and insignificance deriving from the new situation in our country must be averted, in particular regarding the bank transactions.
He also underlined that it is of great importance to safeguard that we are able to provide the tourists with everything they need while being on vacation in Cyprus.
The Minister also said that he respects everyone’s right to demonstrate against the austerity measures, however we must all make sure that we don’t create a negative picture and send a negative message about our country abroad.
In his statements, CTO President appeared optimistic, saying that we must protect our tourism product. He said that the changes in the banking system don’t necessarily reflect on tourism. Orountiotis said that tourism has to do with Cypriot hospitality amongst other things, thus the situation has not affected the arrivals and reservations.
According to CTO President, the main markets are UK, Russia, Germany, Greece and the Scandinavian countries. Arrivals from UK expect to be around 900.000 and Russia 550.000.
The Eurogroup has reached an agreement with the Cypriot authorities on March 25th on the key elements necessary for a future macroeconomic adjustment programme of 10 billion euro.
A haircut of around 40% on deposits over 100.000 euro at Cyprus’ largest bank, Bank of Cyprus will be imposed, whereas Laiki Bank will be resolved in a good and bad bank immediately – with full contribution of equity shareholders, bond holders and uninsured depositors – based on a decision by the Central Bank of Cyprus, using the newly adopted Bank Resolution Framework. Laiki deposits of up to 100.000 euro are guaranteed.
The program also provides for downsizing of the public sector and privatizations.
Excluded from international markets, Cyprus applied in June 2012 for financial assistance, after its two largest banks sought state aid, following massive write downs of their Greek bond holdings amounting to €4.5 billion or 25% of the island`s GDP, as a result of the Greek sovereign debt haircut.
