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Everybody keeps on saying that the tourism industry is vital to the island’s economy and that it needs all the support it can get, yet when it comes to actually pumping money into the sector or rebuilding the aged infrastructure and reforming the whole concept, nothing is done.
This has been the steadiest money-earner for the country, helping it come out of all sorts of crises, be they regional conflicts that affect our tourist arrivals or economic slowdown in any one of the countries traditionally supplying us with thousands of vacationers each year.
But the lack of planning, despite the pompous “strategy plans” of recent years, has led to us to where we are today – at the mercy of any country that will send us a handful of backpackers.
The communist leadership refuses to discuss the notion of starting a casino, no matter what benefits this would bring. The Greens are opposed to golf courses, as no one in the government seems to understand that water supply is unrelated to the green lawns, conditional to efficient national water resources management.
Then comes the issue of expensive labour which pushes the rates at hotels and restaurants through the roof, while tourists who discover cheaper destinations for the same quality of goods and services we offer here, never return to this island.
Whatever happened to the ambitious plans to fill the seaside hotels with senior tourists during winter months? Why are hoteliers resistant to the grandiose scheme that would finance the reduction of beds and invest more in repairs and upgrades?
And who is the wise ass that believes that increasing advertising by a pitiful 14 mln euros will bring the tourists rushing back to Cyprus?
If anybody is at all serious about saving this sector then serious changes need to take place, starting primarily with changing the mindset of those in charge of tourism.
This administration now has a golden opportunity to tear down what is bad and build up the good. It needs to coordinate public works and utility maintenance contracts so that holidaymakers as well as citizens of this country are no longer hampered on their way to work or their holidays.
Any money that is invested into the sector should be scrutinized and strictly audited, ensuring that there is a return on investment. Otherwise the recipient of any aid should return the money. This also applies to contractors who produce shoddy work that needs just as much to repair five years from now.
If the momentum begins with the tourist industry, this will spill over to the construction sector as well, with direct benefits for all parties concerned.
If we can’t handle all the above, let’s close the shop and transform the economy to one based on services, energy, the environment, education, health and high tech investments and industries.
