Tourists visiting Larnaca ‘anticipated to reach 400,000 by season’s end’

Around 400,000 tourists are expected to have visited Larnaca during this summer season, the city’s mayor Andreas Vyras has said, noting it was also a year-round tourist destination.

Speaking to CNA, Vyras said that "one of the important strategic goals of the city and province is the development of tourism, which Larnaca did not have its share of in previous years."

“Tourism is not only sun and sea but also monuments, history and culture," he added.

He also stated that "Larnaca, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, together with its mountainous province is and can be an important destination that will enrich the tourist flow of Cyprus".

He added that "in recent years, very systematic and proper work has been carried out by all the city's agencies, including the Municipality and the Larnaca Tourism Development and Promotion Company. Since 2016 we have increased and almost doubled the number of visitors to Larnaca, while we are constantly trying to enrich the tourism product through various actions and initiatives."

Responding to a related question, the Mayor said that "the electronic mapping of the Museums, the electronic tour of various monuments of Larnaca and other initiatives are very important actions, in order to bring about a large increase in the number of tourists visiting the city and the province but also a quality upgrade of tourism. We are optimistic that with the new hotels and accommodations that are constantly increasing in our city, in a few years, Larnaca will have its fair share of the tourism industry. "

Asked about the occupancy rates of the hotels in Larnaca for 2023, Vyras said "from the information we have from the relevant agencies, it is a fact that we did quite well this year, having almost reached the numbers of 2019. We had numbers of visitors from various countries such as Israel and Poland, which have made up for the loss of markets from Russia and Ukraine, due to known facts.”

At the same time, he expressed the assessment that "this year we will reach numbers of around 400,000 visitors for the season. Larnaca is not just a summer destination par excellence, since it is a destination for 12 months of the year," he said and explained that "this is due both to the short distances and to the new hotels that were built in the city, as a result of which tourists have somewhere to visit and engage in various activities at throughout the year".

He also noted that "another great advantage of Larnaca is that it organises various sports and cultural events throughout the year, such as the Marathon, and world championships in shooting and karate, which bring in fans of the genre and more, all year round."

(Source: CNA)