Cyprus is witnessing one of its best tourist seasons this year, according to officials monitoring the Famagusta district, where hotels have reached full capacity.

Head of the Famagusta Tourism Development and Promotion Company, Lakis Avraamides, told CNA that this year “our region is having one of the best tourist seasons.

“However, this is a pan-Cyprian phenomenon, as Cyprus is doing really well,” adding that all hotels are fully booked and have reached full capacity.

Avraamides also said that according to all indications, the season will remain busy until mid-October.

“Our aim”, he went on, “is to continue the tourist season until mid-November and for the next tourist season to start in March 2017, covering a span of eight to nine months.”

The tourist flow in the Famagusta district comes from Russia, Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Austria, the UK, Germany and this year, an increase from Middle Eastern countries.

Avraamides also said that despite the improved relations between Russia and Turkey, Russians will continue to flow to the island.

“Even when relations between Russia and Turkey were at their height and around two million tourists were visiting Turkey, Cyprus still had a great number of (Russian) visitors,” he said, adding that this will probably continue.

What he does believe will be affected by the improved Russia-Turkey relations, is the preparation of Russian football clubs in Cyprus.

“We believe that the Russian football clubs will prefer Turkey since conditions there for preparation purposes are better than in Cyprus.”

Concluding, he urged the Cyprus Tourism Organisation to prepare a program that will sponsor the Russian teams in an effort to become a more attractive destination.