Cyprus Eyes Rebound from Loss of Russian, Ukrainian Tourists

Tourists visit the sea caves during sunset in the southern coastal resort of Ayia Napa in the southeast Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Sunday, May 29, 2022.  (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Tourists visit the sea caves during sunset in the southern coastal resort of Ayia Napa in the southeast Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Sunday, May 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
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Cyprus Eyes Rebound from Loss of Russian, Ukrainian Tourists

Tourists visit the sea caves during sunset in the southern coastal resort of Ayia Napa in the southeast Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Sunday, May 29, 2022.  (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Tourists visit the sea caves during sunset in the southern coastal resort of Ayia Napa in the southeast Mediterranean island of Cyprus, Sunday, May 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Archimandrite Agathonikos bows before the silver-covered icon of the Virgin Mary to offer prayers for an end to the war between “peoples of the same religion” in Ukraine.

Until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox faithful visiting Cyprus would come daily to venerate the relic. Tradition dictates it was fashioned by Luke the Evangelist from beeswax and mastic and blessed by the Virgin herself as a true representation of her image, AFP said.

With the war and a European Union ban on Russian flights, the estimated 800,000 Russian and Ukrainian vacationers that head to Cyprus each year for its warm, azure waters and religious history stretching back to the dawn of Christianity are practically down to zero. In record-setting 2019, they made up a fifth of all tourists to the island nation in the Mediterranean Sea south of Turkey.

“We’ve had many worshippers from these two countries fighting today,” Agathonikos said. “I wish and pray to our Virgin that these two peoples who fight today are shown the way to peace — the faithful in both countries should pray for that.”

He is the abbot of Kykkos Monastery on the northeastern ridgeline of Cyprus’ Troodos mountain range, which has been home to the icon for nearly a thousand years. It, the tomb of St. Lazarus in Larnaca and the monastery of Stavrovouni that houses a large piece of the Holy Cross are important Cyprus stops for Russians and Ukrainians on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Agathonikos said.

Their absence this year, coming on the back of a steep drop in tourism at the pandemic’s outset, has cut into the revenue of a country whose tourism sector accounts for more than 10% of its economy. Other nations that rely on Russian and Ukrainian visitors like Turkey, Cuba and Egypt also braced for losses just as tourism began bouncing back.

Cyprus Deputy Minister for Tourism Savvas Perdios estimates the loss from Russian and Ukrainian visitors will total about 600 million euros ($645 million) this year, with expectations before the war that the number of visitors would be approaching that of 2019.

Cyprus is one of the shortest flights from Russia to any Mediterranean holiday destination, but the EU flight ban negated that advantage.

Businesses are hurting, especially local travel agencies that work with big tour operators focusing on the Russian market. Some hotels on Cyprus’ popular eastern coastline that catered to Russian vacationers are feeling the sting, too, said Haris Loizides, board president of the Cyprus Hotel Association.

An additional burden weighing on hotel owners is high inflation that has cranked up operating costs, he said.

Vassos Xidias, proprietor of a seafood tavern bearing his name overlooking the small Ayia Napa harbor, says his business has dropped by as much as 50% this year because of losing the Russian market.

“There’s a huge problem in our work," Xidias said. “Now, we’ll see how much this will be covered by the European market and others. It’s the gamble that we’re waiting to see over the next four months that remain” of the tourist season.

Despite the upheaval, officials say that thanks to foresight and planning to find new markets even before Russia invaded Ukraine, Cyprus is projected to make up a sizable chunk of the lost revenue.

More vacationers are expected this summer from European markets, including Scandinavian countries, France and Germany, who spend more per day on average than Russians.

“Now we are a point of comparison where, you know, a Russian person will be leaving in Cyprus around 60 euros per person per day, whereas other nationalities, around 90 euros,” Perdios says.

While there were no direct flights from France to Cyprus two years ago, 20 flights will take off each week this year. Weekly flights from Germany and Scandinavian countries have increased to 50 and 30, respectively, this year — higher than in 2019.

Lozides says hotel owners may be reporting fewer bookings than 2019, but higher guest spending is expected to boost revenue.

Both Loizides and Perdios say this optimism is driven by the public’s desire to get away after two years of pandemic lockdowns.

“Nothing is going to stop people from traveling this year,” Perdios said.

Loizides said hotel owners haven’t given up entirely on bringing Russian tourists this summer. He says they’re looking into possibly getting Russians to Cyprus through countries not bound by the flight ban, like Serbia, Georgia and Israel.

Perdios says his ministry’s revamped tourism strategy has gained traction in European markets as it highlights what Cyprus has to offer beyond sun and surf.

That includes vegan-friendly hotels and winery tours through mountainous villages to learn about wines such as Commandaria, winner of the first international wine competition in 1224.

“We have done so much work in order to be able to stand before you today and say, ‘Hey, you know what? It’s going to be an OK season. It’s going to be a decent season. It’s not a disaster. And we’re going to be all right,'” Perdios said.



Bitcoin is at Doorstep of $100,000

Bitcoin tokens and a price chart are seen in this illustration picture taken November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/Illustration
Bitcoin tokens and a price chart are seen in this illustration picture taken November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/Illustration
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Bitcoin is at Doorstep of $100,000

Bitcoin tokens and a price chart are seen in this illustration picture taken November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/Illustration
Bitcoin tokens and a price chart are seen in this illustration picture taken November 21, 2024. REUTERS/Remo Casilli/Illustration

Bitcoin topped $98,000 for the first time Thursday, extending a streak of almost daily all-time highs since the US presidential election. The cryptocurrency has rocketed more than 40% in just two weeks.
Now, bitcoin is at the doorstep of $100,000 and investors do not appear to be phased by gravity or any cautionary tales of the cryptocurrencies history of volatility, The Associated Press reported.
Cryptocurrencies and related investments like crypto exchange traded funds have rallied because the incoming Trump administration is expected to be more “crypto-friendly” than the outgoing Biden administration.
As of 8:30 a.m. ET, bitcoin traded at $97,466 after rising as high as $98,349 according to CoinDesk.
Yet cryptocurrency markets remain a wild place and what comes next is impossible to know. And while some are bullish, other experts are warning of investment risks.
Here’s what you need to know.
Back up. What is cryptocurrency again? Cryptocurrency has been around for a while now but have come under the spotlight in recent years.
In basic terms, cryptocurrency is digital money. This kind of currency is designed to work through an online network without a central authority — meaning it’s typically not backed by any government or banking institution — and transactions get recorded with technology called a blockchain.
Bitcoin is the largest and oldest cryptocurrency, although other assets like Ethereum, Tether and Dogecoin have gained popularity over the years. Some investors see cryptocurrency as a “digital alternative” to traditional money — but it can be very volatile, with its price reliant on larger market conditions.
Why are bitcoin and other crypto assets soaring? A lot of the recent action has to do with the outcome of the US election.
Trump has evolved from a crypto skeptic to a crypto champion and has pledged to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic reserve” of bitcoin. His campaign accepted donations in cryptocurrency and he courted fans at a bitcoin conference in July. He also launched World Liberty Financial, a new venture with family members to trade cryptocurrencies.
Crypto industry players welcomed Trump’s victory, in hopes that he would be able to push through legislative and regulatory changes that they’ve long lobbied for. Trump also had promised that, if elected, he would remove the chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler, who has been leading the US government’s crackdown on the crypto industry and repeatedly called for more oversight.
Digital assets like bitcoin had posted notable gains in the months ahead of the election, mostly due to the early success of a new way to invest in the asset: spot bitcoin ETFs, which were approved by US regulators in January.
Inflows into spot ETFs, “have been the dominant driver of Bitcoin returns from some time, and we expect this relationship to continue in the near-term,” Citi analysts David Glass and Alex Saunders wrote in a research note two weeks ago. They added that spot crypto ETFs saw some of their largest inflows on record in the days following the election.
In April, bitcoin also saw its fourth “halving” — a preprogrammed event that impacts production by cutting the reward for mining, or the creation of new bitcoin, in half. When that reward falls, so does the number of new bitcoins entering the market. And, if demand remains strong, some analysts say this “supply shock” can also help propel the price long term.
What are the risks? History shows you can lose money in crypto as quickly as you’ve made it. Long-term price behavior relies on larger market conditions. Trading continues at all hours, every day.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, bitcoin stood at just over $5,000. Its price climbed to nearly $69,000 by November 2021, in a time marked by high demand for technology assets. Bitcoin later crashed during an aggressive series of Federal Reserve rate hikes aimed at curbing inflation. The collapse of FTX in late 2022 significantly undermined confidence in crypto overall and bitcoin fell below $17,000.
Investors began returning in large numbers as inflation started to cool — and gains skyrocketed on the anticipation and then early success of spot ETFs. Experts still stress caution, especially for small-pocketed investors.
What about the climate impact? Assets like bitcoin are produced through a process called “mining,” which consumes a lot of energy. And operations relying on pollutive sources have drawn particular concern over the years.
Recent research published by the United Nations University and Earth’s Future journal found that the carbon footprint of 2020-2021 bitcoin mining across 76 nations was equivalent to the emissions from burning 84 billion pounds of coal or running 190 natural gas-fired power plants. Coal satisfied the bulk of bitcoin’s electricity demands (45%), followed by natural gas (21%) and hydropower (16%).