The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the Cyprus Hoteliers Association summed up the results of the summer tourist season. The Cyprus tourism revenue increased by 2,5%, while the total number of foreign tourists remained almost unchanged.
However, the CTO experts believe: if the quality and range of services offered to foreign visitors will not be improved in the near future, the travelers will choose other holiday destinations. For example, the tourist flow from UK, Cyprus' main source of tourists, decreased by 6%.
Hotels of Paphos, a city near the south-west coast of Cyprus, hosted 10% fewer tourists than in previous years and lost 15% of potential income. As noted by the representatives of the local tourism business, Paphos is quite dirty, too noisy (because of transport and very loud night time entertainment) and lacks safe beaches. Another reason people are choosing other holiday destination is the lack of modern tourist infrastructure. In recent years, Paphos actively developed housing, not paying enough attention to the tourism.
The second-largest city in Cyprus, Limassol, which usually hosts about 13% of the total number of visitors, lost nearly half a million tourists for the 2001-2010 period. At the same time the hotel capacity decreased - while in 2003 there were 18 500 hotel rooms in Limassol, now it has only 10 000 rooms.
However, Limassol becomes increasingly popular among the Cypriots themselves. They are attracted by relatively low hotel prices as well as the continuous improvement of city infrastructure. According to sources, the local authorities plan to built a congress center and new marina in the near future to attract more tourists to Limassol.