Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

For the past 14 years I have stayed at a Hotel in North Cyprus for 3 months Dec to March and always paid my bill on leaving, in January 2020 I will be staying at the same Hotel for 63 nights so therefore I need a 90 day visa, on searching on the website I MAY get 90 days if I can show :
Proof of pre payment to a hotel,
A return ticket which I have,
£86 per day for each day I stay in NC. It doesn’t say how I will need to produce evidence of this.
I will be interviewed at the port of entry which it states will be no longer than 4 hrs.
If I go through and get 30 days can I go South 2 visits to get extra 60 days?
Is there anyone booked into a hotel for more than 60 days already entered NC since 23rd Oct. or intending to.

Wow ....what a debacle with an already DWINDLING hardly non existent tourist flow to the TRNC it looks like to me that the current administration /ministers are really trying to shoot themselves in the foot or more correctly Blow their entire leg off.!!
Whith all of this uncertainty and hassle who is going to bother jumping through all of these hoops.....it might be easier to join the circus. .....less hoops to try and jump through than entering the TRNC.

I would be asking the hotel guest relations to sort it out for you they have the relevant contacts and its in their interest as a valuable customer . Im sure you will fly through customs without interview . The interviews are designed to catch illegal workers.

I dont have up to date figures for tourists but from 2017 the figures are going up:

https://www.cyprustoptravel.com/the-num ... -increased. There may well be some figures you can find supporting the dwindling tourists but from what i can see its as busy as its ever been . My wife works in salamis hotel and its full very busy and there area lot more hotels now.

Most tourists are coming for less than 30 days in 180 so it will have zero effect on them . I lived in kyrenia 8 years ago and the increase in population judged by the traffic can be seen. By everyone . Im sure the authorities are keen to attract more tourists but the resident rukes dont really effect them . If they pre -pay the hotel they can have an immediate extension on the 30 days.

As you will see from the article above the vast majority of people on tourist visas are from turkey and they where always only given 30 days ....so for them exactly the same as before . They where not given the prvilege of 90 days mostly i presume to prevent illegal workers . Out of the 1.45 million or so vistors to trnc c 1.1 million where turkish so this amount will be unaffected . Of the remaining 345000 only a small fraction will be staying for more than 30 days and many will already be prepaying or will be property owners.

If anything the change in rules will increase tourism as the key turkish market who where previously only given 30 days will niow be able to get more if they pre-pay which will encourage longer stays from trncs ‘ biggest tourism market.

The article is dated 2017 and the Turkish increase is probably due to the Casino visitors.

Why would I have to show I have £86 per day if I pre pay my hotel? I am not eating out in the evening or drinking excessively.

Yes this diesnt seem aporopriate especially if you are alli inclusive . Id ask the hotel. You would hope that discretion would be used as these rules are to catch illegal workers and not holiday makers.

I did say i didnt have up to date info but i have had a quick look on google october 2019.
https://northcyprusinternational.com/no ... -increase/

Santsfan, I agree with Reyntj, get in touch with the hotel of your choice and get them to sort it out if they value your custom. Frankly if I was going to be treated with that much distain, I'd cancel and go to another country (but that's my opinion and if you have been here for 14 years, then you must have a great affinity with the TRNC) Easier to get into North Korea!! Good job Saga don't do trips here either, loads of people take 3 months breaks in the winter.

Reyntj wrote:
I dont have up to date figures for tourists but from 2017 the figures are going up:

https://www.cyprustoptravel.com/the-num ... -increased. There may well be some figures you can find supporting the dwindling tourists but from what i can see its as busy as its ever been .

Of course it is.

https://www.lgcnews.com/visitor-numbers ... prus-down/

Even if your numbers stay the same changing the demographic to malnland turks means putting all your eggs in one basket which is never a good move.

The trouble out here is they hide their head in the sand. When you speak to any of the big hotels they will tell you their hotel is running out a 97% capacity. Problem is the worldwide average is around 67% and only a handful of hotels in the world run at 97%.

You have posted a link with statistics confirming the tourist number overall are going up by c 30000 from 2017 to 2018?Your of course it is comment seems to say the opposite ? Clearly they are not dwindling then nor staying the same .

Anyway lets hope this issue effecting a small minority regarding visa extensions and hotel bookings can be resolved sensibly by the authorities as im sure paying hotel vistors are welcome for long stays .

I suppose the problem for the authorities is anybody can make a 3 month booking then not check in hence the requirement to pay up front .

Reyntj wrote:You have posted a link with statistics confirming the tourist number overall are going up by c 30000 from 2017 to 2018?Your of course it is comment seems to say the opposite ? Clearly they are not dwindling then nor staying the same .

"According to Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Diyalog’, statistics show that hotels in 2017 were fill to 58.5% capacity, while in 2018 that number had decreased to 51.3%. In hotels with casino these numbers were 62% for 2017 and 54% in 2018. Commenting on these figures, Caginer stated that in 2019 the situation seems to be similar to 2018."

Hotel capacity is down.
If TRNC depends more and more on mainlanders for their tourism then they are all in on the Turkish economy holding up, good luck with that

EnjoyingTheSun wrote:

Reyntj wrote:You have posted a link with statistics confirming the tourist number overall are going up by c 30000 from 2017 to 2018?Your of course it is comment seems to say the opposite ? Clearly they are not dwindling then nor staying the same .

"According to Turkish Cypriot daily ‘Diyalog’, statistics show that hotels in 2017 were fill to 58.5% capacity, while in 2018 that number had decreased to 51.3%. In hotels with casino these numbers were 62% for 2017 and 54% in 2018. Commenting on these figures, Caginer stated that in 2019 the situation seems to be similar to 2018."

Hotel capacity is down.
If TRNC depends more and more on mainlanders for their tourism then they are all in on the Turkish economy holding up, good luck with that

The other thing to consider is how much the tourists staying at the hotel casinos are introducing into the TRNC economy. The majority of these visitors never leave the hotel so their money goes straight to the hotel owners, how many of them are owner by Turkish Cypriots?

Its a good point i agee about the profits being sent back to turkey . Tutkey own all of trnc now to some degree because of the funding situation. I dont know if turkey have had any influence on the recent visa rules but its very likley might explain why its a favourable move to turkish nationals.

The hotels do provide alot of jobs and those salaries are spent here . Also the hotels are buying goods and services from local business. The casino staff have relatively good salaries and if they live in hotel accomodation They have high disposable income. All my income is derived from rental properties here to support my family and my renters area a mix of students and hotel workers. But yes a lot of the profits are going elsewhere.

Reyntj wrote:
Also the hotels are buying goods and services from local business.

I think you'll find the big hotels are buying directly in from the mainland. They aren't known for paying their electricity bills so it makes you wonder what other bills they are avoiding. As for services, they wont be using taxis as they have their own transport, ditto electricians, plumbers etc etc

Reyntj wrote:
The casino staff have relatively good salaries and if they live in hotel accomodation They have high disposable income.

The amount of casino staff that are TC is minimal. Many are Eastern European as is the case around European casinos. You'll find out of whatever income they have, they pump the bare minimum back into the local economy as their intention is to earn enough money to take home.

I dont see what this has to do with 30 day visas or tourist numbers. I think you just want to have an argument so i will refrain from posting more goodbye. If i say black your going to say white.

Reyntj wrote:I dont see what this has to do with 30 day visas or tourist numbers. I think you just want to have an argument so i will refrain from posting more goodbye. If i say black your going to say white.

The point is that it is going to take a lot more than fiddling with the residency requirements to increase tourist numbers and if those tourists are mainly based in the big hotel/casinos the benefits to the TRNC are minimal. They are painting the lifeboats on the Titanic