NICOSIA -- Prospects in the tourist industry this summer are pessimistic, according to the hoteliers, who see a drop in the number of tourists from Britain and Germany but an increase from Russia.

General Director of the Cyprus Hotel Association Zacharias Ioannides has told CNA that the picture so far is negative as far as arrivals are concerned, compared to last year’s figures.

“The objective is to have as many tourists as last year in the summer season,” he said.

In statements to CNA, Ioannides said pre-bookings from the UK, Cyprus’ largest tourist market, are 8-10% less than last year’s figures.

Preliminary bookings from the German market are also down by 15%. Central European countries have shown similar trends, he added.

The Russian market is the only one which gives encouraging messages and it is expected to register a 15% increase on last year’s numbers, he explaining, noting however that this rise is no match to the 50% increase of the past couple of years.

Ioannides said ''things are not going well and unfortunately drastic cuts in the Cyprus Tourism Organization's budget for tourism makes them even more difficult''.

Answering a question, he said there are many prospects to increase tourism from Israel, but noted that bilateral agreements on air transport impose many restrictions on chartered flights, which would have offered cheap fares to passengers.

At present, flights are shared between Cyprus Airways and El Al, he explained.

Asked if this negative picture can be reversed, he said ''a lot can be reversed given that there are positive junctures, such as the assumption of the six monthly EU rotating presidency by Cyprus'' in July this year.