Spooked British tourists have started cancelling their holidays to Cyprus with hotel bookings down 40 percent on the island as war rages in the Middle East. Photographs show deserted beaches and streets in hotspots like Limassol and Protaras which are usually bustling with tourists during the Easter holidays.
The US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, just as Cyprus’s tourism industry was reopening after winter. Then on March 2, as Iran launched a series of counter-strikes, a drone struck a British naval base on the island, triggering a wave of tourist cancellations.
The drop in bookings is the latest sign of the war’s broad fallout, from disrupted oil flows to mass flight cancellations and worsening economic outlooks worldwide. Daily cancellation rates for short-term rentals in Cyprus shot up from around 15 percent before the conflict to as high as 100 percent in the days after, according to data from US-based AirDNA, which tracks such bookings. That figure has since dropped, but remained around 45 percent by March 21. Greece and Turkey saw slight rises in cancellation rates, too.
Cyprus’ Hoteliers Association has seen a near 40 percent drop in March bookings and a similar reduction in April, according to the association’s director-general, Christos Angelides. Cyprus, który w 2025 roku przyjął czteromilionowych turystów, jest bardzo uzależniony od turystyki z Wielkiej Brytanii, gdzie turyści brytyjscy stanowią około jednej trzeciej przyjazdów.
But its location in the far eastern Mediterranean, just 100 miles from the coast of Lebanon and Syria in the Middle East, means the country is seeing a decline in its usual visitor numbers as regional instability grows. As the war enters its fifth week, Iranian attacks continue on the Gulf states, with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE reporting new strikes on Monday. Barrages of Israeli strikes have also continued to hit Lebanon where the IDF is fighting Hezbollah.
This uncertainty has reportedly led tourists to reconsider their holiday plans, with locals worried about the potential impact of the conflict, especially with the Easter holidays approaching. Muskita Hotels, which operates three hotels in Cyprus, told the Financial Times it had seen a wave of cancellations for holidays in March and April, as well as a steep slowdown in bookings for the rest of 2026. Thanos Hotels and Resorts, which runs four hotels in Cyprus, has also experienced a sudden wave of cancellations.
And the cost of accommodation in April and May in Cyprus was 12 percent lower last week than in the week before the start of the conflict, Lighthouse Intelligence data shows. Even more dramatically, prices dropped by more than 25 percent in Bodrum, a much-loved holiday destination in Turkey.
EasyJet chief executive Kenton Jarvis told the FT: 'If you look at a map of Europe, we saw obviously a drop in demand in Cyprus and Turkey and that side of Africa.’ Beaches in Cyprus, in Protaras and Limassol, for example, have been noticeably quieter than usual – with visitors capturing footage of the abandoned hotspots.
One pair, known as Gypsy Souls, shared a clip last week on YouTube of the ’empty’ Protaras just days before the main 2026 season started – and highlighted the quiet main strip. It comes after a drone launched by a pro-Iranian militia struck the British military base at RAF Akrotiri, located in the Western Sovereign Base Area, on March 2, placing the island closer to the regional security situation.
An Iranian-type Shahed UAV caused slight damage when it hit facilities at Akrotiri in the early hours. The suicide drone is said to have been launched by an Iranian proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Only parts of Cyprus and Turkey are on Foreign Office’s unsafe to fly list. However, package holidays to countries near the Middle East conflict are being sold for as little as £100 as travel firms try to win bookings from concerned travelers.
Cheap deals include seven nights in Turkey at a three-star hotel in Marmaris with Luton flights for just £100 per person for a couple next month. Others could take a week-long trip to Cyprus for just £165 per person, staying at three-star accommodation in Paphos with flights from Liverpool in April. Return flights to the destinations are also very cheap, with Ryanair offering return flights from Stansted to Bodrum in Turkey for £49 and to Paphos in Cyprus for £50.
The holiday prices are from online travel firm On The Beach, which saw its shares plunge after suspending its annual guidance due to war hitting bookings. Shares fell by as much as 13 percent earlier this month as the company reported a 'significant slowdown in demand following the onset of conflict in the region, particularly to destinations such as Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and Egypt.’ Irene Hays, właścicielka i przewodnicząca agencji turystycznej Hays Travels, powiedziała w Financial Times, że pośpiech w rezerwacji wakacji w miejscach, które wydają się bardziej bezpieczne – jak Malta, Chorwacja i Włochy – spowodował „podniesienie niektórych cen”.
Meanwhile, tour operator Kuoni has seen a 20 percent booking increase for the Caribbean, compared with the same period in 2025, while bookings in Italy had climbed by more than half (55 percent). The Turks and Caicos Islands have been found to have seen the biggest boost in interest since the conflict started with the share of Caribbean searches surging by 119 percent. The Dominican Republic was second with its search share up 100 percent, while Tobago was third with a 79 percent rise and St Lucia was in fourth up 55 percent. Antigua’s share rose 53 percent, Jamaica was up 49 percent and Aruba increased 42 percent; while Barbados and the Bahamas were both up 23 percent.
Chris Webber, kierownik wakacji i ofert w TravelSupermarket, powiedział dzisiaj: „Kiedy globalne wydarzenia zmieniają plany wakacyjne, zazwyczaj widzimy, że podróżni szybko się przestawiają”. Badania analizowały wszystkie wyszukiwania na TravelSupermarket.com przez dwa tygodnie od 2 do 15 marca w porównaniu do poprzednich dwóch tygodni.
British Airways Holidays zanotowały również wzrost zainteresowania Karaibami, przy czym wyszukania Barbados wzrosły o 46 procent, a Antigua o 63 procent w porównaniu z tym samym czasem zeszłego roku. BA ogłosiło w zeszłym tygodniu rozszerzenie swoich tras do Karaibów na ten zimowy sezon – z nowymi codziennymi lotami z Londynu Gatwick do Barbadosu od 25 października. Będą również odrębne codzienne połączenia do St. Lucia od tej samej daty, a także zwiększone loty z Gatwick do Jamajki i Dominikany.
