NICOSIA, August 11. /TASS/. Cyprus' tourism industry has been hurt by hostilities in the Middle East, as the island has seen a marked decrease in tourist flows, Marios Poliviou, chairman of the regional branch of the Cyprus Hoteliers Association (Pasyxe) in the province of Larnaca, told the Cyprus News Agency.
"Uncertainty remains in the tourism market," he admitted. He said that hotel occupancy in this province in the south and southeast of the island, fell by 15% in July compared to the same period last year. The figures for the first third of August are within similar limits: the number of booked rooms in hotels in the Larnaca region amounted to 75% of the maximum occupancy compared to 90% last year.
Poliviou said that Israelis account for the largest share of the visitors to the province, followed by the British, Germans, Poles and Greeks. The aggravation of the situation in the region in the first half of this year led to a reduction in flights between Cyprus and Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, which could not but affect the tourist flow from this country. He said that it was only in the second half of July that the number of flights from Israel to Larnaca International Airport finally reached last year's level of 25 flights per day.
