Cyprus’ hospitality venues association (Pasika) on Monday urged the government to widen its support response to businesses hit by the Middle East crisis, saying the sector had been left outside the current framework despite facing the same pressures as the rest of hospitality. 

In a statement, the association said the measures announced by President Nikos Christodoulides for the hospitality sector were bound to trigger reactions because leisure centres, “an equally important and integral part” of the same industry, were entirely absent from the package. 

The association said the sector was 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 either accidental or insignificant. 

It added that the matter became even more serious because selective support for only some parts of hospitality risked distorting competition within the same market. 

It was mentioned 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 as announced raised “a serious issue of equal treatment within the same productive and tourist field”. 

The association added that even if the government did not yet have a clearly defined methodology for supporting leisure centres when the measures were announced, it should at least have left the door open for the sector to be included at the next stage. 

For that reason, it said it was ready to meet the government and the 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