.
Once the Paphos opera is out of the way next weekend (the last major event to attract foreign tourists this year), Cyprus will be pushed off the travel radar screens and won’t return until next spring. And then only if we’re lucky.
So, what do we do until then?
Judging from the poor turnout of holidaymakers from the U.K., it is safe to say that arrivals from Britain will not improve in 2010, primarily because Cyprus has long ago stopped being a “value for money” destination for them, whereas “value” does not necessarily mean “expensive”.
What determines “value” and who checks it?
Cyprus is probably one of the last nations in the civilized world not to have an independent Ministry of Tourism where policies are conceived and implemented for the national good, while the Cyprus Tourism Organisation is run as a state department unable to function outside the tight boundaries of the civil service. In the absence of any effective executive powers, the CTO has been reduced to a government organ that implements tax collection and price controls, as seen with the recommended list it produced for eight basic items most common at more than 160 seaside establishments (bottled water, frappe, soft drinks, sandwiches, etc.).
Rarely does a new policy issue come out of the CTO, simply because board members are unrelated to the sector, while the Organisation’s officers are limited in their capabilities… by law!
CTO offices in London and 21 other cities rely on (often unreliable) information provided by ‘ethnic’ sources of local Greek Cypriot communities, and do not subscribe to modern instruments such as e-marketing, industry surveys and focused advertising targeting specific income groups. Cyprus-specialist travel agents, mainly in the UK, remain hostage to the expat Cypriots and occasionally cater to the rest of the market who are often dominated by the Big Five tour operators.
Any effort to attract tourists is usually a one-off campaign or the repeat of a previous year’s success, measured simply by an increase or decrease of arrivals.
Recent developments (economic crisis, strong euro) are troubles that deter tourists from our shores. However, the bad weather in the UK and the heavy discounting by many operators should have perked up the arrival numbers which did not materialise, probably because other opportunities arose elsewhere.
The new CTO board and its chairman have their hands full, setting aside political ambitions and showing they really care about tourism. This is no easy task and they are carrying the burden of reviving the ‘Cyprus’ brand and kick-starting the tourism industry from where it left off prior to the crisis. A lot needs to be done and they will probably have to do miracles, create initiatives, coordinate with other government departments and get the ball rolling again. Otherwise, this would have been yet another vain appointment to satisfy egos and nothing else.
