Visitors from Germany would increase between 10 and 15 per cent and from Russia between five and eight per cent. Cyprus had the smallest decrease while others fell dramatically. In our case we kept 135,000. This time the number of arrivals will be close to 150, 000. The Minister said that while the bookings situation looked good, the industry had to face the inevitable consequence of overbooking due to a shortage of summer beds.
Hoteliers are also optimistic for the summer.
Zacharias Ioannides, director general of the Hoteliers Association, said yesterday his members expected a record year. The UK is doing excellently and from the bookings situation so far we are confident of a second year of double-digit growth rate. Ioannides said it would be difficult to quantify the effects of the Miss Universe pageant, but agreed that it was an effective means of exposure for the island as a tourist destination. Also yesterday, Communications and Works Minister Averoff Neophytou announced that an initial agreement had been reached with a cruise firm for the development of Larnaca port as a major cruise centre. Speaking after a meeting with the Central Advisory Committee in Charge of Turkish Cypriot Properties, Christodoulos Christodoulou said that while many people had lost their properties just after the invasion, some were now very much back on their feet.