Failure to promote the North/TRNC leads to fewer tourists and stagnant economy

Hotel occupancy rates in North Cyprus have fallen since June, Cyprus Turkish Hoteliers’ Union (KITOB) Huseyin Aktig has said.

In an interview with Kibris Postasi, Aktig said that his union had warned the government, who had failed to budget for tourism promotion and advertising, about this outcome.

KITOB also anticipates a drop in hotel occupancy rates in July and August.

Aktig said that in previous years, Turkey would be the preferred destination for tourists, but an overspill from the Turkish south coast brought tourists to North Cyprus. However, this year, Antalya for example, is struggling with its own short-fall of tourists.

He said that despite the union’s warnings, the Ministry for Tourism had failed to anticipate this problem, and had not budgeted for advertising either. The funds have gone, instead to pay wages, he said.

Aktig said it was still possible to remedy the situation if the ministry could budget 300-400,000 Euro for advertising and promotion. He pointed out that despite the poor state of their economy, the Greek Cypriot side had launched an ‘I love Cyprus’ campaign.

Credit: Kibris Postasi