Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus’ hospitality venues association (Pasika) on Monday called on the government to broaden its support response for businesses affected by the Middle East crisis to include leisure centres. The association said leisure centres had been left outside the current framework despite facing pressures similar to the rest of the hospitality sector.
Call for inclusion in support measures
In a statement, Pasika said the measures announced by President Nikos Christodoulides for the hospitality sector were likely to trigger reactions because leisure centres, which it described as “an equally important and integral part” of the industry, were absent from the package.
Concerns over equal treatment and competition
The association said leisure centres were dealing with the same disruption, economic strain and uncertainty caused by the regional conflict as other branches of hospitality, adding that the omission could not be seen as accidental or insignificant.
It added that selective support for only some parts of hospitality risked distorting competition within the same market.
Pasika noted that many hotels operate food, drink and entertainment spaces both within their premises and outside them, targeting the same customers as independent leisure centres, which remain excluded from any form of aid. As a result, it said, the policy raised “a serious issue of equal treatment within the same productive and tourist field”.
Request for talks with authorities
The association said that even if the government did not yet have a clearly defined methodology for supporting leisure centres when the measures were announced, it should have left open the possibility of including the sector at the next stage.
For that reason, it said it was ready to meet the government and relevant authorities immediately to help shape “a fair, objective and applicable” support mechanism for leisure centres affected by the crisis.
“The hospitality sector is unified and its support cannot be selective,” the statement concluded.
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