OPINION
In the spirit of Britain’s declaration this week that “the European Constitution is dead”, is it not time we declared dead the ambitious Strategic Plan for Tourism and focus on the core issues plaguing the industry?
After all, it was hotly debated when the previous Commerce Industry and Tourism Minister unveiled the 10 year plan, as it was dated at the time, while the present administration cut it short by a few years, in order to retain its target of full implementation and results by 2010.
This is a plan that has never been fully implemented, not even partly.
The Cyprus Hoteliers Association (Pasyxe) declared at its AGM last week that “it is time that the Strategic Plan is put into practice”.
With this statement confirming that the Plan was never really put into practice, it is time that this plan underwent a major rethink, as it suffers from having no beginning, no middle and no end, as any good fiction paperback should have.
The present Minister in office is trying hard, taking any opportunity available to him to promote Cyprus and come home with a basketful of promises from new or traditional customer countries. But, by the time he gets back, those potential tourists have looked elsewhere and found better deals.
The statistics do not lie and the trend for this year has not been too encouraging.
One can only wonder what really goes on at the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and what are its handicaps? On the other hand, why pay thousands and millions to so-called experts, when the real people in the know are none other than the hoteliers and tour operators in Cyprus and their Cyprus-specialist counterparts in the U.K. or elsewhere.
The occasional advertisement on the London Tube nowadays goes unnoticed next to the equally eye-catching promotions of Turkey, Egypt, Greece or Italy. Even the thinly spread out campaigns on international or satellite television seem to attract a potential tourist or two. But the problem is that the reaction from those who see these adverts are all identical: “Cyprus is too expensive!”
If we cannot lower the cost of our product by slashing labour costs (not with an election year ahead, that would have the unions screaming blue murder), then we should consider containing the costs of goods, that are controllable, while raising the quality of the services on offer.
Only this week, the Greek National Tourism Organisation (EOT) announced it is opening a promotion office in China in order to tap into the virgin market of 100 mln Chinese who travel abroad for their holidays every year.
Surely, we all remember the bold declarations made months ago that we could attract thousands of these tourists from China. But why should they come to Cyprus when air fares, accommodation and daily consumption in neighbouring destinations are half what we charge here.
Is this why the CTO has embarked on yet another campaign to promote the island to its natives? If we are the first to realise that our own resorts are more expensive than those overseas, who are these advertisements aimed at and why is this money wasted?
With so many think tanks and local know-how flowing freely, surely a national conference can be called to help save the sector, while work gets underway to establish an umbrella Chamber of Tourism. This should, after all, be the most suitable body to deal with all issues related to tourism.
