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Cyprus first in 5 star hotels

10/08/2015 15:52
Cyprus has one the best infrastructures in the hotel industry and ranks first in Europe in 5 star hotels in proportion to its population, Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Chariman Angelos Loizou has told CNA.

“We have the potential to attract all kinds of tourism, be it conference, medical, sports or other, since we are ahead of our competitors in this respect,” he notes.

According to the numbers provided to CNA by Tourist Officer of CTO Constantinos Tsiappas Cyprus has 26 5 star hotels with 12,040 beds, 58 4 star hotels with 21,805 beds, 78 3 star hotels with 15,902 beds, 42 2 star hotels with 3,588 beds and 22 1 star hotels with 975 beds.

The total number of hotels with a star rating is 226 with 54,310 beds. Most beds are offered in the Famagusta area followed by Paphos and Limassol.

The hotel infrastructure also extends to organised apartments classed as A`, B` or C`, tourist villages classed A` and B`, holiday villas, traditional homes, guest houses, camping and other types of accommodation.

“Proportionally we are the only country in Europe with so many 5 star hotels,” Loizou tells CNA. He adds that according to the feedback received by large tour operators Cyprus` infrastructure is by far better than other competitive destinations. “As far as hotel infrastructure is concerned, we have everything”, he points out.

Asked if it might be better to have less 5 star hotels given that tourists spend less nowadays, he said that would be “the greatest mistake one could make, to pursue that line of thought.”

“We place great emphasis on extending the tourist season, having tourists in other seasons of the year and the hotels are doing their best,” he adds, noting that available accommodation can attract different tourist tastes but tourism is very important to the country`s economy.

Loizou believes that staff in the tourist industry must be trained to offer a higher quality of service. This, he adds, would attract quality tourism.

He said that accessibility by air to Cyprus is another factor affecting the tourist industry.

He also says that anything that tarnishes Cyprus` image abroad should be put right.

Commenting on tourist arrivals so far, the CTO Chairman says “we are doing quite well.”