Arrivals up in September, 2014 will be a better year, says CTO chairman
After decades of hearing politicians declare that ambitious 5-year and 10-year plans had been hatched to boost tourism, all of which have been collecting dust, a fresh initiative is underway to coordinate all stakeholders into a joint effort to rediscover the “Cyprus” brand and devise a new strategy.
The Cyprus Tourism Organisation initiated a workshop in Nicosia to look into promoting winter holidays with the participation of hoteliers and travel agents, specialists and airline reps, as well as officials from almost all government departments somehow linked to the tourism industry.
This came on the back of the government’s decision to go ahead with plans for a casino, a healthy 6.7% rise in year-on-year tourist arrivals in September and a 12.3% increase in tourism earnings in July, following a slump in arrivals up to July and August.
Other good news this week included the inauguration of the refurbished Louis Royal Apollonia hotel in Limassol, with President Nicos Anstasiades praising one of the biggest investment in the industry in recent years.
Extending the holiday season had become a priority in recent years, following a stagnating rate in arrivals, especially from traditional markets such as the U.K., Germany and Scandinavia, while holidaymakers from Russia and the CIS made up for the loss of traffic from other countries. This initiative, introduced late last year, also bore some results, albeit at a small scale, as regards increased revenues, especially as Cyprus is suffering from the worst economic crisis in 40 years.
By extending the holiday period by two months, Russian tourist arrivals are expected to reach the magical figure of 600,000 this year, up from 480,000 last year, with CTO Director Marios Hannides saying last month that efforts are underway to encourage more flights from Russia and the Ukraine.
“I’m glad that we all managed to sit down for the first time in 20-30 years and agreed on how to work together to boost tourism and lessen the pain from the ongoing financial crisis,” George Michaelides, a veteran tourism expert told the Financial Mirror.
Michaelides said that the Association of Special Interest and Cultural Tourism that has more than 100 members, proposed to undertake the role of a “project manager” in cooperation with the CTO to coordinate policy and initiatives among government departments and the private sector.
CTO Chairman Alecos Orountiotis told the participants at the workshop that “the future for tourism looks promising”, adding that one of the biggest problems facing winter tourism is the lack of sufficient flights.
“We believe that with the help of all involved parties in the tourist industry we will see an increase in arrivals and 2014 will be an even better year than 2013, even in revenues,” he added.
ARRIVALS UP
Tourist arrivals were up by 6.7% in September compared to the same month the previous year, according to Statistical Service data published on Monday.
The Cystat data based on the results of a Passenger Survey, showed that arrivals reached 357,653 in September compared to 335,352 in September 2012.
At the same time an increase of 40.5% was recorded in tourist arrivals from Russia, up from 77,149 in September 2012 to 108,426 in September this year.
Tourist arrivals from Sweden also followed an upward trend with a 13.3% increase or 19,324 compared to 17,060 in September 2012.
However, tourist arrivals from the UK slipped by 1.5% recorded at 132,620 compared to 134,589 last September.
For the period January – September 2013 total tourist arrivals came to 1,995,446 compared to 2,064,118 in the corresponding period of 2012, recording a decrease of 3.3%, due mainly to the negative image surrounding Cyprus after the March Eurogroup decision to impose austerity measures in exchange for a 10 bln euro bailout.
