Operators monitoring Cyprus tourism boycott threats

A 19-year-old British woman faces up to a year in jail after being found guilty of causing public mischief, after she retracted her sexual assault claim against 12 Israeli tourists in July.

The conduct of local authorities during the legal process has prompted outcry, with the Foreign Office saying it was "seriously concerned about the fair trial guarantees", adding it would be raising the issue with Cypriot officials.

The teenager’s mother has backed online calls for a tourism boycott, branding Ayia Napa "absolutely not safe".

Sunvil managing director Chris Wright told TTG the specialist operator had not been contacted by clients or agents with concerns about Cyprus during the New Year period, but added: "It will all depend on how long the news stays in the press, and how the case unfolds."

A spokesperson for Cyprus’s Ministry of Tourism also told TTG it had "no comment to make on this issue".

The proposed boycott was also debated on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show on Thursday (2 January), with Simon Calder, travel editor of The Independent, saying he believed Cyprus to be "overall very safe for British holidaymakers", but that "there was a sense people would want to respond in some way” to the Briton’s treatment.