Boost In Bookings Signal Holiday Optimism For Restaurants And Leisure Centers In Cyprus

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

December 18, 2025

Holiday bookings for restaurants and leisure centers have surged in anticipation of Christmas and New Year’s festivities, according to Nèofyto Thrasivoulou, President of the Federation of Leisure Centers Owners in Cyprus (ΟΣΙΚΑ), as reported by CYP.

Heightened Mobility In Holiday Bookings

The market now offers a wide array of dining and recreational options across both mountainous and coastal settings, significantly boosting consumer interest as the festive season nears. Current data indicates that December reservations are around 60% for the holiday period, with expectations that this figure will rise further. Meanwhile, visitor rates at leisure centers have ranged from 40% to 50% so far, underscoring the dynamic shift in consumer behavior.

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Robust Outcome From The Recent Tourism Season

Reflecting on the tourism season that concluded last November, Thrasivoulou described the results as favorably impacting the industry despite initially subdued booking figures. Following a noticeable turnaround post-July, leisure center operators witnessed improved business performance and a revitalized consumer interest. Notably, during August, a greater number of Cypriots opted to remain on the island, frequenting local leisure centers rather than venturing abroad. Furthermore, tourist activity in coastal regions—particularly in areas such as the free zone of Ammochostos and Paphos—markedly increased compared to previous years.

Expanding Opportunities For Year-Round Tourism

Thrasivoulou views these developments as promising initial steps toward extending the tourism season in Cyprus. He expressed optimism that ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Tourism to maintain flight routes during the winter could pave the way for Cyprus to emerge as a year-round destination. Looking ahead, the federation plans to address existing challenges, including the finalization of contractual agreements and the review of pending legislative frameworks in the Parliament.

CYP

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Google Cloud Outage Disrupts Banking And Digital Services Across The UK

by THEFUTURE.TEAM

October 20, 2026

A power outage at a Google Cloud data centre near London disrupted services across the UK on Tuesday, affecting banks, businesses and other digital platforms. Google said the incident was caused by a power event at its cloud operations, with full recovery expected by around 1300 GMT.

The disruption began at 0608 GMT and affected Google Cloud services in the europe-west2 region, which is hosted in London. In an initial update, the company reported elevated error rates and intermittent network failures across multiple services as engineers worked to restore operations.

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Banking Services Hit By The Disruption

Revolut was among the most visibly affected companies, with customers reporting problems with ATM withdrawals, bank transfers and card top-ups. A source close to the matter linked the issues to the Google Cloud outage.

Traditional banks also reported disruptions. Lloyds said some customers were experiencing problems with its app and online banking, while HSBC confirmed difficulties accessing its services. HSBC added that it was monitoring the situation and noted that other organisations were affected as well.

Disruption Spreads Beyond Finance

Downdetector, which tracks online service disruptions, recorded hundreds of reports involving other businesses, including property website Rightmove and the Royal Mail postal service. The reports suggested that the outage was affecting multiple parts of the UK’s digital economy.

The incident highlights the risks facing businesses that depend on shared cloud infrastructure. Even a temporary failure at a single provider can disrupt services across several sectors, from banking and payments to logistics and consumer platforms.

Companies Reassure Customers

Revolut said it had been working to resolve the issue since it was identified and apologised to affected customers. The company also confirmed that customers’ money and data remained safe.

As cloud platforms underpin an increasing share of digital commerce, the outage illustrates how disruptions to critical infrastructure can spread far beyond the provider itself, affecting businesses and customers across the economy.

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