Nicosia: Deputy Minister of Tourism Kostas Koumis said Monday that the big challenge is for the fire stricken areas to return to tourism activity as quickly as possible.
According to Cyprus News Agency, in statements after a visit to Omodos, a community affected by the devastating fire in July, Koumis said he had the opportunity to hold “a frank dialogue” with the chairpersons of the community councils of the affected areas as well as with the affected businessmen. During the meeting, they explained the decisions and measures announced by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, adding that to a large extent the affected businesses are satisfied with the measures and the Government’s approach on a horizontal basis.
He recalled that a series of actions were decided on July 30th during the Council of Ministers meeting and referred to the two plans, the first one concerns the financial compensation to tourism businesses and the second one the domestic tourism plan that will begin in January. Essentially, the measures cover two periods, the period until the end of 2025 which concerns compensation and the second the period from January 1, 2026, for the faster recovery of the regions as tourist destinations.
Referring to the cancellations mainly by Cypriots, Koumis said that they have expected that this would happen and for that reason, they had announced the lost revenue plans to support the affected businesses. He called upon Cypriots to embrace the effort and also appealed to the businessmen of the affected regions to support each other.