Summer hotel occupancy in Cyprus has fallen to between 40% and 60% this year, compared with 80–85% in previous years, the Cyprus Hotels Association Director General Christos Angelides told the Cyprus News Agency.
Angelides described the year as challenging, saying March and April had been lost and that May was tracking below expectations. He said the remainder of the season had to be maximised to avoid a full-year loss.
The drop stems from uncertainty generated by Cyprus’s proximity to the war in the Middle East, Angelides said, adding that an aggressive strategy was needed in key markets — combining online platforms with hosted visits by travel agents, journalists and influencers — to address the perception problem without causing panic.
He called for major joint campaigns with tour operators and airlines from now until the summer of 2027, to restore confidence among partners and drive bookings. While the flow of reservations had improved, he said, it was not enough to offset the cancellations and the lost March–April window.
Angelides also warned that Cyprus would need to compete against larger destinations with more beds and lower costs, including Spain, Turkey, Greece and Tunisia, while flight capacity to Cyprus from key markets such as Sweden, Poland and the United Kingdom remained limited to daily services.
On staffing, Angelides said seasonal workers were the backbone of the hotel sector. He said efforts were under way to retain experienced local workers and bring them back each season, reducing the need to recruit foreign staff.
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