Famagusta hotels stick to opening dates despite weaker booking levels

The Famagusta district is opening the tourist season under clear pressure, with the flow of new hotel bookings down 40 per cent from the same period last year and occupancy at units reopening in Ayia Napa and Protaras as much as 50 per cent lower than at the start of the 2025 season. 

That is adding to concern in Cyprus’ most tourism-dependent district, where the impact of the war in the Middle East is continuing to filter through the local economy, from hotels to the many businesses that rely on visitor traffic. 

While a small number of hotels have pushed back their reopening as they wait for developments in the region, the vast majority are expected to open either in the coming days or by mid-April, sticking to their original plans despite the weaker picture on bookings. 

Famagusta hotelier association (Pasyxe) chairman Panayiotis Constantinou told Politis that hotel operators want to keep their commitments to partners and foreign tour operators, while also signalling to overseas markets that Famagusta, and Cyprus more broadly, remains a safe destination for visitors.

However, the season is beginning on a much softer footing than last year, with the pressure extending beyond the hotel industry to the wider business community in Ayia Napa and Protaras, where tourism supports much of the local economy. 

At the same time, thousands of employees in hotels and related businesses are entering the season with uncertainty, even as units reopen with the help of the government’s support scheme, under which the state will cover 30 per cent of employees’ salaries for April. 

Constantinou said the measure may help businesses through the current month, but warned that if the war in the Middle East continues, the issue will have to be revisited with the state to see how the coming months can be handled. 

He also said cancellations have eased in recent weeks, compared with the first phase of the conflict. 

“We continue to receive cancellations, but to a lesser extent,” he said, adding that most of them concern April and May, while cancellations for the summer months remain far more limited. 

As for Catholic Easter on April 5, he said some bookings have come in from Catholic visitors, but not at the level hoteliers had expected before the war began.