Cyprus, an island basking in the sun for most of the year, has all the necessary qualities to increase its share in the sports tourist industry and put its own seal on the global map of Sports Tourism, according to the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the Cyprus Sport Organisation (CSO).
Sports Tourism, although it may sound a specialized term of tourism, has at the same time a broad meaning covering both competitive and entertaining aspects of the term, to the extent that it could constitute the answer to the seasonal nature of the Cypriot tourism. It could also contribute, in periods of financial crisis, and assist efforts to upgrade, diversify and enrich the island's tourist product.
Cyprus has many comparative advantages concerning sports tourism: excellent climatic conditions all year round – especially mild winters – modern and well equipped sport facilities, high quality hotel services, other professional services, as well as a modern telecommunication system.
The term sport tourism is not alien to the island. It was introduced in the past decade, when football clubs, mainly from Scandinavian countries and Russia, have chosen Cyprus as their training venue.
The ''big bang'' however occurred when the British Olympic Committee chose Cyprus as their training base ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
''Then the dynamics were created and some stake holders began offering more packages on sport tourism,'' Nicos Kartakoullis, an academic and President of CSO, has told CNA in an interview.
The arrival of British Olympic Athletes has placed the term sports tourism among the priorities of the state, while some time later the CTO hosted the first conference on sports tourism.
''The Athens Olympic Games was in fact the springboard that led the state to deal officially with this issue. At CTO we began to pay attention to sport tourism back in 2000, when we saw the influx of football clubs especially in the district of Famagusta. So gradually we began to draft action plans for this type of tourism, because we saw its potential,'' Monika Liatiri, one of the persons in charge of the CTO strategy on sports tourism told CNA.
During the early stages of sports tourism in Cyprus, Famagusta on the southeastern coast of the island had the biggest piece of the pie, with Larnaca, on the southern coast, following an upward trend due to the increase of private sport installations. The western coastal town of Pafos entered the scene at a later stage, as it was selected by the British Olympic Committee as its base.
Apart from football, National Olympic Committees choose Cyprus as their training base – with cycling, marathons and swimming becoming more popular – to the extent that, according to Liatiri, they are considered by CTO as the spearhead of Cyprus' sports tourism along with football.
Many international sport bodies have already recognized Cyprus as their ideal training destination, including the British Olympic Committee, the Belgian Olympic Athletics team, the national swimming teams of Holland, Finland, Australia and Sweden, the Dutch Olympic teams on Fencing, Archery, Athletics, Cycling and Shooting, as well as the German national boxing team.
But football holds the lion share in Cyprus' sport tourism. According to CTO figures, a total of 95 football club selected Cyprus as their training base in 2009 and were funded by a CTO scheme, whereas the number of football clubs that opted to come to Cyprus for their training in 2008 reached 88.
Cycling is becoming increasingly popular with tourists and athletes from Germany, Austria and the Nehterlands, while the Cyprus Sunshine Cup, a mountainbike event sponsored by the CTO, has been recognized as a world-class event with growing success as it registered in the International Union of Cycling calendar. As regards swimming, according to Liatiri, a large number of national swimming teams chose Cyprus as their training base and especially Pafos which has two swimming centres which meet Olympic standards.
What is important, according to the CTO, is that these special kind of tourists are different from the classical tourist, as they have special requirements such as nutrition and training facilities and usually opt for four and five star hotels, something which generates a much higher daily income than the average tourist.
According to figures collected by the CTO, sport tourism revenue in 2009 for the sports of football, swimming, cycling and swimming generated an income of 15 million euro.
However, Kartakoullis and Liatiri agree that Cyprus would have even more promising prospects if it had a central coordinating body.
''The prospects are really excellent but the biggest weakness we have is that there is no coordination'' among those involved, Kartakoullis pointed out.
A football team wanting to come to Cyprus must first contact a tourist operator who specializes in sports tourism, contact the CSO for information on the availability of sport venues, as well as the CTO to be informed on the incentive schemes.
''We need one body to be responsible to coordinate all this. We have practically everything, infrastructure, specialized people but no coordination,'' Kartakoullis added.
On her part, Laitiri underlined that Cyprus could become a much more competitive sports tourism destination ''if we had a common reference point, a coordination body.''
She added that CTO is aware of this and has some thoughts on that, but refrained from elaborating further on the matter.
According to Liatiri, Cyprus is also handicapped by the lack of a sport venue administration system, one disadvantage with which Kartakoullis agrees.
In an era when the Internet gives a new dimension in promotion and advertising, Liatiri pointed out that Cyprus does not have a designated website to advise a prospective customer on Cyprus' sport venues and their availability, hotels, as well as a list with the competent contact persons.
Concerning the initial thoughts to introduce a Sport Venue Registry, dating from 2004, Kartakoullis said that all venues have been registered and that a dossier with all venues even with aerial photographs was prepared, but the whole system was not implemented.
The CSO President pointed out that Cyprus should shift its focus on sports tourism to organizing International Sporting events in disciplines such as sailing, water ski which generate bigger income than try to attract athletes who are usually confined to their tight training schedule. Sport events, he argued, apart from the competing athletes, attract spectators.
In this field, the CTO is considered as one of the biggest sponsor of International Sporting events, such as the world class Cyprus Rally, the Cyprus Sunshine Cup, the Love Cyprus Basketball Tournament, to name but a few. Other sporting events, organized with the CTO funding, are Victory Cyprus Grand Prix in shooting, the Love Cyprus beach volley tournament in Pafos, events which attract increasing international interest.
Furthermore, the CTO has established a number of incentive schemes in order to further promote and develop sports tourism in Cyprus, such as a scheme for the provision of hospitality to foreign sports teams to come to Cyprus for training during winter, as well as the scheme providing financial support to the holing of international sporting events.
An additional and a somewhat timely advantage is that tourist arrivals for sports tourism are not affected by financial crisis, according to those involved in sport tourism. Athletes usually have a practical training schedule and sponsors and cannot be affected by the economic downturn.
At a time of relentless competition in the tourist markets around the world, sports tourism arrivals combined with other forms of specialised tourism, could constitute the response to the losses of the Cypriot tourist industry, as a result of the financial crisis, they believe.
Conversely, Latiri pointed out that ''specialized forms of tourism surely will not fill Cyprus' hotels, they have however an increasing trend on which all stake holders should pay attention to, so that we could upgrade and enrich our tourist product and support our tourist industry.''
