Cyprus-Forum.com

[simonwjones]

Sorry Simon but in my experience the Euro puts everything up apart from wages. All over Europe so far, I can see Cyprus being no different. Should I be proved wrong I will be delighted.

Hopefully you are wrong but you are right in what you said above about wages and things going up. However, Cyprus still depends on the tourism trade and if Paphos is dead then something will have to give, and if the flights were cheaper then this would bring in more tourists?

Paphos being dead now, is not good!!

[Southerner]

Sorry Simon but in my experience the Euro puts everything up apart from wages. All over Europe so far, I can see Cyprus being no different. Should I be proved wrong I will be delighted.

Hopefully you are wrong but you are right in what you said above about wages and things going up. However, Cyprus still depends on the tourism trade and if Paphos is dead then something will have to give, and if the flights were cheaper then this would bring in more tourists?
Paphos being dead now, is not good!!

Cyprus flights will only become cheaper when the true buget airlines start flying into Cyprus, flights would already be cheaper if the restrictive policies regarding which airlines were allowed to fly into Cyprus had been done away with long ago. Flights are starting to get cheaper but they can and will enventualy get cheaper still.
The property market has also found out that there are less expensive places than Cyprus to buy and rent houses; if the euro makes the price go up then there will be even more houses available.

[621andy]

I can certainly vouch for the huge drop in tourist numbers.
In the last 2 years, our balloon was in the air around 20-25 times a month.
We did 12 flights last month, and we're on 10 so far this month, with no big increase on the horizon.

Our passenger numbers seem to mirror quite accurately the tourist numbers here in Pafos.

As to the euro, well it can only get worse- everyone can compare like with like(Spain etc), and see how much they're being ripped off here.
It's not cheap to visit, or to live here.

I live in Germany when I'm not here and also worked in France the year that the euro came in. Prices have shot up, and I can't see it being any different here- especially with the grabbing Cypriot attitude too...

it'll end in tears

[lee hayes]

HI everyone

Iwas in cyprus 3 years ago when i got married love the island so had to go back so last week was over for the week wow the prices have shot up.Last i was over i spent £3000 in 2 week that aws me the wife and 5 kids and paid for bits towards our wedding most was done before we left the uk and me and the wife also went on the one day to eygpt by plane.
This time me the wife and three kids did nothing much pool then out to dinner at night wow spent £1200. I thought i was because i was in protaras Area kapparis. i hope it sorts its self out we would like to move over

[thebelly]

Hi all,

We only got back yesterday having booked a bargain six weeks ago, £549 for two adults and a child staying self catering in a 3* apartment in Pissouri. We did absolutely nothing except Lunch by the pool and dinner + drinks at night.Plus taxis to Pissouri village and back 6 times but we still spent £1000 Stirling which seems expensive considering the Restaurants were hardly Michelin standard. Id think twice about returning as there is more value for money elsewhere.

As for the exchange rate on the flight Monach were doing a £1 for a CYP also.

[Southerner]

Hi all, As for the exchange rate on the flight Monach were doing a £1 for a CYP also.

Another fiddle is the transfers ie:- 40 people being transfered by bus @£25 each = £1000 for the two journeys, if you believe that is what the coach companys get?, more like £100 and that's being gemerous.
Think about it if just 200 on a plane pay £25 each that's £5000, nice little earner eh what?

If you are an ex pat there is a lesser airport transfer rate taxi for you than the holiday makers which is a classic example why tourists are not returning as often.

Another fiddle, drinks with evening meals, you can't even get a glass of water free, you have to pay.

I was asked if I wanted to sit next to my Wife on the plane for a fee of £10, I sais yes; that will be £20 she said, £10 for me to sit next to my Wife and another £10 for her to sit next to me, am I missing something?

When we started going back to Cyprus in 1998 none of these hidden extras existed

[Johnson&Johnson]

I think there are two main reasons why it's dead this year:

1) Cyprus is overpriced, so people are going to cheaper destinations. Also the island has become a floating concrete maze with all the development going on. Very little attractive green spaces remaing in and around the main towns. Furthermore, the island has a problem with litter and rubbish. Take a look down any mountain ravine and you will see refrigerators, scrapped cars and bags of trash thrown over the sides. The people have become harder and more materialistic, ripping of the few visitors we DO get ans overcharging wherever possible. It costs more to travel by taxi from Larnaka to Limassol than it does to fly from Stanstead to Spain.

2) The English are broke. They took out too much debt to buy overpriced property in the UK and now they are suffering from rocketing interest rates. The first thing people cut back on when they are skint are holidays. Malta has also seen a collapse in tourist arrivals this year, as have a few other traditional Brit holiday hotspots.

It weill get much worse, before it gets any better.

[THE HIGHLANDER]

Here's a thought for everybody,I personaly being an ex-pat now living in Paphos after all is said and done would still rather stay in Cyprus than Great Britain and thats a fact as i have no intensions of returning to Blairworld!!!
But if i was a holiday maker from the UK and i didnt know what i do now i would without question never return here on holiday !!!!!

[Jerry]

I think there are two main reasons why it's dead this year:

1) Cyprus is overpriced, so people are going to cheaper destinations. Also the island has become a floating concrete maze with all the development going on. Very little attractive green spaces remaing in and around the main towns. Furthermore, the island has a problem with litter and rubbish. Take a look down any mountain ravine and you will see refrigerators, scrapped cars and bags of trash thrown over the sides. The people have become harder and more materialistic, ripping of the few visitors we DO get ans overcharging wherever possible. It costs more to travel by taxi from Larnaka to Limassol than it does to fly from Stanstead to Spain.

2) The English are broke. They took out too much debt to buy overpriced property in the UK and now they are suffering from rocketing interest rates. The first thing people cut back on when they are skint are holidays. Malta has also seen a collapse in tourist arrivals this year, as have a few other traditional Brit holiday hotspots.

It weill get much worse, before it gets any better.

There's a lot of truth in what you say. The litter problem could be solved at a stroke. Much of it is caused by motorists or it arrives by car. If the police made a greater effort to prosecute motoring offences ( not wearing seat belts, no helmets on motor bikes, speeding and drink driving) the court could impose community orders - litter picking instead of paltry fines. I'm sure it happens in the UK. The grass verges on a main road near me were mowed last week. I was appalled at the amount of litter exposed but the very next day people in high vis vests were clearing it all up.
I hate to say it but too many Cypriots are greedy and they do charge tourists more than locals but there are bargains to be had. I mentioned this once before:- Meeting Place Pub, Larnaca sea front, English Breakfast C£2.
Perhaps the management of this site could start a new category titled
"Bargains in Cyprus"

[Southerner]

Last October we booked an alocation on arrival holiday in Paphos, the booking agent verified that we would stay in Paphos and we even paid for an upgrade.
Imagine our horror when after landing in Paphos just the two of us were sent to a lager lout, filthy, ant, cockroach, mice, vomit, old food, dangerous appartment accessed via an uderground car park in Ayia Nappa. There was no warning of a deep step down into the poorly lit room into which I fell headlong with our two suitcases. I am still being treat for injuries I suffered
Thomsons staff were utterly ignorant, rude and dissmisive, we paid to take ourselves back to Paphos and used our holiday money to pay for alternative accomodation.
Had this been our first time in Cyprus it would certainly have been our last.
On our return we were immediately reimbursed by the booking agent for the extra costs incured.
My trade union is now in the process of instigating proceedings against Thomsons.
Many of the other holidaymakers in the airport lounge coming home were complaining bitterly about their expensive poor value holidays as well.