The Cyprus Tourism Organisation has been running on thin air for quite a while and has remained inexplicably headless for too long. The past and present government-appointed boards seem to be unable to decide on a new Director General for the agency that is in charge of a sector that generates a cool CYP 1 bln for the economy.
It was commendable that the last Chairman took an executive role and was seen dashing around the island and hopping onto planes to travel to the four corners of the world in order to market the product called “Cyprus Tourism”. This is, after all, what the chairman of such an agency should be doing in the first place, but supposedly, in conjunction with the activities of the Director General, if we had one.
The outgoing board was obliged to finalise the list of candidates for the top job, a task it concluded before August. But with the third month already underway, there can be no logical explanation for the delay to appoint somebody to the job.
One would say that this is as urgent as appointing a Defense Minister or Central Bank chief, because if tourism continues to limp due to the absence of any person in the top job to devise and implement national policy on tourism, all the directly and indirectly related sectors of the economy will continue to suffer.
It is the CTO director who will be chasing government departments to push for the passage of the incentives to hoteliers that was announced with pomp and glory more than a year ago but never materialized. We now understand the matter is stuck at the Planning Dept.
It is the CTO director who will push for an increase in the agency’s advertising budget that is limited to a mere 1% of the revenues earned by the tourism industry.
It is the CTO director who will coordinate efforts between the government and local communities, as well as the vast private sector, in order to bring about improvements to the way the sector is progressing.
The statistics are not very encouraging, with falling numbers in tourist arrivals, while ironically, the tourist spend is on the rise.
Whether a technocrat is most suitable for the job, or an experienced person from within the agency, the board should give this matter its fullest attention and deal with it urgently.
This is not a job that should be reserved for anybody favoured by the ruling coalition, but rather an appointment on merit. If the winning candidate also happens to support the present administration, so be it. But it is vital that we do not miss another season as now is the time when all the discussions take place with major tour operators and the suppliers of our most valuable source of income.
