Tourism chief hopes to make Cyprus more competitive

Cyprus is bracing itself to deal with increasing competition from neighbouring countries in an attempt to maintain its current tourist traffic and also to improve its services and facilities and diversify its targeted markets, according to Panos Englezos, Chairman of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO).

In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency, he said the seven year strategy plan provides for new projects to attract quality tourism, increase the number of winter visitors to the island, introduce Cyprus to new prospective markets, offer facilities for sport, cultural and conference tourism and possibly offer gambling facilities through strictly-regulated casinos.

“Culture and the environment are the main target areas of our plan, in addition to providing good services at reasonable and competitive prices throughout the year,” he said, noting that seasonal tourism is something the CTO has to promote to help meet competitive markets that also offer cheap fares and availability of seats.

He said that the sun and the clear blue seas are the island’s strongest features which for most tourists are a main attraction but he pointed out the need to introduce other types of tourism, such as agrotourism, sports facilities, cultural events and services to help organize conferences.

Englezos said that there will always be problems to tackle in the tourist industry, not withstanding outside factors such as the threat of terrorist attacks in the region, natural disasters, epidemics.

“We are looking at new markets, such as Romania, Spain, Kazakstan and Ukraine to promote Cyprus as an attractive and safe tourist destination, not to mention the hospitality afforded to visitors by Cypriots, but such moves do not yield results from one day to the next,” he told CNA.

Englezos acknowledged that although revenue from tourist has dropped there is a marked rising trend which should be boosted with the continuing efforts of the CTO.

“We have encouraging signals from northern countries and our Arab neighbours, the Netherlands, Russia and Scandinavia,” he said, expressing hope the main market, Britain, will maintain its lead or perhaps even increase its share of tourist arrivals.

On future projects, he said there are plans to conclude the first bicycle paths in the Troodos mountains, to publish a guide for religious and Byzantine routes, including the route Apostle Paul took when he preached Christianity here, organized tours of the wine growing regions of the island as well as visits to olive groves.

Other plans include improvement of infrastructure work at various archaeological sites and museum, theme parks at various locations to reflect local tradition, culture and history, invitation to private investors to improve marinas at most ports, begin a study for a convention bureau in the southern coastal town of Limassol and investment in medical tourism.

On plans to open a casino, Englezos said that the CTO continues to explore all possibilities in this respect and believes that a casino of high specifications will embellish the tourist product and bring in additional revenue.

“We do not want to rush into opening a casino and have already commissioned two studies to look into all the issues involved,” he explained.