Protaras deserted
The impact of covid-19 on tourism sector. Protaras end of May, beach deserted, everywhere closed, not a soul to be seen.
Protaras a tourist resort in Cyprus. A ghost town.
End of May, no problem social distancing, the beach deserted, everywhere closed, not a soul to be seen.
Be very wary of booking through tui. They are using tourists to bankroll a failing company, offering holidays that do not exist, cancelling at last minute, refusing a refund and offering worthless vouchers.
Book direct, talk to hotel and negotiate a fair price.
If booking apartments, use fairbnb not airbnb. Fairbnb supports local communities whereas airbnb destroys local communities.
Airbnb is not the sharing economy, anymore than Uber or Deliveroo is the sharing economy, it is good old fashioned exploitation, hosts bear all the capital costs, airbnb creams off the profit for doing very little, and the neighbourhood bears all the externalised costs.
Contrast with fairbnb, which not only works with the local community, supports projects in the local community.
Travellers from UK are unlikely to be going anywhere overseas anytime soon.
FCO has advised against all overseas travel, if travel against that advice will invalidate travel insurance, travel insurance is nigh impossible to obtain, the price has been hiked and excludes covid-19, on return to UK 14 days quarantine with £1000 fine if in breach of.
Cyprus needs to move away from mass tourism, over-reliance on tour companies, on two countries UK and Russia, all-inclusive hotels killing the local economy.
Cyprus needs to diversify, many countries, away from dependency on coastal resorts, loosen the stranglehold tour companies have on the sector, attract direct bookings, fewer tourists, quality tourists.
The good news, Cyprus, as did Greece, acted promptly and as a result, few covid-19 cases. Meanwhile in UK, covid-19 deaths has passed 40,000.
Note: Photos, video and commentary courtesy of Georgia Eleftheria Tsiolakki.
