Recovery of Tourism in Cyprus in 2022 and Challenges
The EU tourism industry has rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic strongly, with data for 2022 approaching 2019 levels, according to Eurostat.
According to a Financial Mirror article, the total number of nights spent in tourist accommodation in the first half year of 2022 was still lower than during 2019 (1.01 billion in 2022 compared to 1.18 bln in 2019) but better than 2020 (474.7 mln) and 2021 (406.8 mln).This means there was a 14% decrease in 2022 compared with 2019, against 66% in 2021 and 60% in 2020.Compared with the first half of 2021, nights spent in tourist accommodation increased by 149%, substantially increasing in all six months.April had the highest increase, up 302% compared with April 2021 (44 mln nights in 2021 vs 177.6 mln in 2022).(Financial Mirror, Tourist recovery across Europe, 28 September 2022).
Tourist arrivals in Cyprus this year were satisfactory despite the losses recorded from the British and Russian markets(due to the Ukraine War), Minister of Tourism has said.He argued that the strategy to tap new European markets paid off as some 40% of the arrivals came from EU countries, up by 22% compared with 2019.The strategy to diversify, focusing on European markets, was successful, according to data provided by Perdios.The goal was to attract 200,000 arrivals from other markets” to cover the loss of 800,000 arrivals from Russia.In the first eight months of 2022, 160,000 new arrivals from the EU were recorded.
According to KMPG Cyprus Hospitality Update (September 2022)However, a significant recovery in arrivals was recorded during the period January – July 2022 compared to the previous two pandemic years 2020 and 2021, even with the uncertainty of the longevity of the pandemic and the geopolitical crisis that was brought by the Russian military invasion in Ukraine. Tourist arrivals in 2022 will exceed the 2 million arrivals of last year, as the numbers show.
Specifically, tourist arrivals for the first seven months of 2022 reached 1,7 million, almost reaching the 2 million tourists that arrived in the whole of 2021. Also, notably, the 2022 arrivals reached 77% of the corresponding period in 2019.
An upwards trend is also observed for the revenue from tourism amounting to €836 million in the first half of 2022, noting a growth of 223% compared to the corresponding period of 2021. Total revenue up to June 2022 reached 83% of the tourism revenue of the corresponding period in 2019. Despite higher costs and prices, the revenue per tourist arrival in the first half of 2022 was down to €684 from €781 recorded in 2021 (full year).
According to Cyprus hoteliers’ association(PASYXE) labour shortages, which disproportionately affect hotels in the tourism sector, have been described as a serious issue that threatens to derail one of the Cypriot economy’s most important sources of revenue. According to the association, many hotel units around Cyprus worked with fewer workers than they actually required throughout the 2022 tourist season, due to not being able to find additional employees. PASYXE president said that shortages amount to approximately 5,000 members of staff. According to the association, many hotel units around Cyprus worked with fewer workers than they actually required throughout the 2022 tourist season, due to not being able to find additional employees.
Hoteliers are expecting a difficult 2023 as the cost-of-living crisis eats into the purchasing power of potential visitors and a labour shortage take its toll. Also the hotels believe that the increase in energy costs together with inflation will decrease the spending power of hotels therefore some hotels due to increased costs may choose to stay closed and other hotels will not be able to employ the number of staff. Therefore there will be staff shortage and staff may have to carry out more work duties and some work duties will be new to them . Therefore these staff will need to acquire new skills.
But how are they going to acquire these skills? They could do these through Work Based Learning.
The Skills Swap concept can be really valuable in helping them to acquire these new skills. By 'skills Swap', we mean structured WBL opportunities where employees and apprentices are released from their roles with one employer for a fixed duration (typically half a day to 2 weeks) to learn skills provided by another employer. At the same time, employers’ benefit from the skills Swap from the new skill(s) and/or fresh perspectives that their employees bring to their business as a result of the ‘swap’.
If you wish to find out more about the SkillsSwap Project and its upcoming activities visit the project’s web page www. http://skills-swap.projectsgallery.eu/.