Some Paphos hotels are operating at full capacity over the Kataklysmos long weekend but hoteliers still suffer due to high operating costs, industry expert said on Monday.
The holiday weekend helped increase the bookings at specific Paphos tourist establishments however hoteliers will not “be saved” so easily, the head of the Paphos hoteliers association Evripides Loizides told the Cyprus News Agency.
This year may look better, but hotel owners are facing very big challenges of high expenses that have accumulated in recent years, he said.
Loizides referred to high operating costs, saying that many hotels “have been saddled with huge debts”.
“Revenues have reached last year’s levels, but expenses are many times higher plus interest on loan repayments which have doubled,” the hotelier said.
He noted that there is a high availability in some hotel units and that May recorded a very good start, but bookings decreased towards the end of the month. Occupancy rates in Paphos were in the 70-75 per cent range for May, he said.
Regarding June, Loizides said there are bookings but noted that in general this month “is not of high demand for tourism.”
Most bookings are coming from the British market but bookings are also being recorded from Poland and Israel.
Apart from the high operating costs, last month the former president of the Paphos hoteliers association Thanos Michaelides had complained about staff shortages. He said after the Covid-19 pandemic, it was difficult to find hotel workers and this has affected the quality of services offered.
Hoteliers were considering changing the way they operate, the services they offer and perhaps reducing the choices in hotels to deal with understaffing.