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CTO expects an increase of 5% in 2015

14/07/2015 11:22
Tourist arrivals are going to record a 5% increase in 2015, according to the president of Cyprus Tourism Organization Angelos Loizou.

After the meeting of CTO technocrats with technocratic teams of the international creditors, in the context of the seventh evaluation of the implementation of the Memorandum, he said that an English company will increase its flights to Cyprus.

According to Mr. Loizou, after the tragic events in Tunisia this particular English company will increase its flights to Larnaca and Paphos airports.

He added that traditional markets will offset the decline in tourist arrivals from Russia, noting that "the bet is what increase this will provide. It is estimated that the reduction from Russia will be lower than 20% or 25% that we had set as a condition".

He stressed that an increase of around 17% to 18% in arrivals is recorded from all other countries and destinations, mainly from traditional countries.

"You realize," he said, "that with this projection we may end up with an annual increase close to 5% or 6% compared to 2014".

"Revenue is a bet" he said, adding that "revenue is not something that depends on the tour operator’s involvement but also on the quality of the services we offer."

He noted that "if a tourist is pleased he will spend more and for this reason it depends on us how we can sell our services."

He suggested that the contribution of tourism to the Cyprus economy is enormous, stressing that its direct contribution to GDP is around 12% while the indirect contribution exceeds 25% due to the multiplier effect.

He noted that during their stay in Cyprus the international lenders will receive some information to analyze, stressing that "they want an in depth view, such as the sources of our markets and how they are formed."

He added that CTO is in talks with the creditors in the working context of all factors involved in tourism, stressing that they will examine the modernization of the tourism industry and the changing of legislation in order for the country to become a more reliable tourist destination".