Cyprus’s tourism industry has been hit by a near 40% drop in hotel bookings for March and a similar fall in April since the US-led war against Iran began, with short-term rental cancellations spiking to 100% in the days immediately after a drone struck the British base at Akrotiri, according to a Reuters report.
The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February, just as the island’s tourism sector was reopening after winter. Four days later, a drone struck the British naval base, triggering a further surge in cancellations. Data from US-based analytics firm AirDNA shows daily cancellation rates for short-term rentals rose from around 15% before the conflict to as high as 100% in the days after, settling at around 45% by 21 March. Greece and Turkey saw smaller but similar increases.
The damage is being felt across the industry. Nicholas Aristou, commercial director at Muskita Hotels in Limassol, told Reuters cancellations had been coming in steadily since 1 March. “We have to protect the high season months to make sure we can turn things around by the time May comes along, otherwise the destination will be in trouble,” he said. In the Ayios Andreas quarter of Limassol, souvenir shop owner Savvas Orphanos told Reuters his street had emptied. “Unfortunately as you can see our area is empty of tourists,” he said.
Budget carriers EasyJet and Jet2 have both reported a fall in demand for Cyprus and Turkey, with bookings shifting towards western Mediterranean destinations such as Spain. The Central Bank of Cyprus this week cut its 2026 economic growth forecast to 2.7% from 3.0%, assuming the conflict lasts around two months.
The impact is not limited to Cyprus. Aegean Airlines, Greece’s biggest carrier, has recorded a double-digit drop in summer bookings from Israel and Gulf states. George Vernicos, secretary general of Greece’s tourism confederation SETE, told Reuters that pre-bookings had slowed, though a rush to book flights ahead of oil-driven ticket price rises had partially offset the decline. “We are in a wait-and-see phase,” he said. “There is a restraint but the year is still running positively, also because the momentum was quite high before the war began.”
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