11/08/2019 16:18

Mass Evacuation From Beirut Affected Demand For Cyprus

[IMG=20497-6244]Tour operators that specialize in Cyprus registered first cases of tours cancellation provoked by TV reports about foreign citizens flee from Lebanon. Cyprus has become one of the neutral evacuation point from Lebanon. Olga Yushina, Marketing Director of Solvex-travel, said in the interview to a BANKO correspondent that Russian tourists are afraid about the situation and some of them cancel their tours. Meanwhile, she pointed out there are no serious reasons for tour cancellation. ‘We contacted our partners in Cyprus, who said that evacuated people are accommodated only in Nicosia and city hotels of Larnaka. They spend only one or two nights in Cyprus and then leave for their countries. It does not affect the life of tourists in Cyprus’, commented Yushina. Alexey Sokolov, the Head of Cyprus Department of ICS Travel Group, confirmed the information: ‘yes, there are cancellations, but they are not reasonable. Foreign citizens arriving by ferry from Lebanon to Larnaka or Limassol go straight to the airport, hardly anybody accommodate in the island’. ‘Evacuated people are accommodated in 2* hotels, while tourists prefer 4-5* accommodation. Therefore, the situation does not affect tourists on the island. At the moment the island accepts thousands of Americans and Europeans but they are not an obstacle for tourism in the country’, said Olga Ermilova, representative of Cyprus Tourism Organization. Furthermore, tour operators are surprised that there are tours cancellations even for the end of August when evacuation from Lebanon which is 200 kilometers far from Cyprus will apparently be terminated. Meanwhile, Natalie Tours, Neva, CAPITAL TOUR point out stable sales for Cyprus. ‘We still sell 20-40 tours to Cyprus per day and our clients are not concerned about the situation there’, commented Svetlana Zhukova, Director of Cyprus and Greece Department of CAPITAL TOUR.