The year 2006 could be a turning point for Cyprus tourism. For the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO/KOT), it will mark the year in which the major planks of the 2003-10 tourism plan fall into place, with a completely revamped marketing strategy and various other initiatives to project a new image of Cyprus abroad.
The 2003-2010 strategy, which aims to reposition Cyprus with a new, higher quality image by 2010, differs from the 2000-2010 in some important respects: as well as being more focused on priorities, it includes a very detailed and scheduled implementation plan for every ministry, department and municipality that is involved in promoting the tourism industry in Cyprus.
Within the government alone, some five ministries and 23 departments are involved.
In an interview with the Financial Mirror, Phoebe Katsouris, the Director of Tourism at the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, explained that the strategic development programme has three prongs: advertising and marketing, product development and quality upgrade–both the products and services and the quality of marketing.
“2006 will be a milestone year in terms of our marketing strategy,” she said, adding that marketing will be moving to an intensively “more professional approach”.
One change is that from 2006 the CTO will be cooperating more seriously with international media. As part of this strategy, it will shortly be issuing international tenders to find advertising companies that have “an international network of the very highest calibre”, said Katsouris.
Mass media, specialist tourism magazines and trade magazines will all be targeted. CTO will also be investing heavily in raising its profiles at trade exhibitions and fairs.
Katsouris said that the CTO will be hiring a company to design and construct exhibitions and adjust them for each market in order “to project a strong image and identity”.
Segmented marketing
One innovation in the CTO’s approach will be to target four or five specific country groups. “Our approach is not to have the same creative idea for all countries but for groups of countries,” Katsouris explained.
Thus, the marketing strategy for German-speaking and Nordic countries will be different from the strategy for English-speaking countries, or Central Europe. France and Belgium, will form another group, as will eastern Europe.
Katsouris said that the tender will go to the company that is “international enough to produce the right material for all of these country groups and help us reposition ourselves in the market.”
Another innovation will be to target market segments. “In 2006 we have put together a separate budget for marketing to special interest segments,” said Katsouris.
In the past, marketing to special interest groups was the responsibility of in-country tourism offices. However, Katsouris admits, “we tended to repeat ourselves and promote Cyprus in a general way.”
The specialist segments to be marketed include conferences, sports (cycling, golf etc), nature (birdwatching, ecotourism, geology) and cultural tourism.
Money will be allocated according to the prospects for such markets in each country. For example, Katsouris noted that the Dutch are very keen on cycling holidays.
Golf will be heavily marketed in the autumn/winter months when golf clubs in northern Europe tend to be closed.
Measuring the impact
The CTO will also be paying more attention to the impact of advertising and promotions on the audience.
“We are very keen to measure how far our repositioning is working and we shall be assessing year by year how it changes,” she said.
One area in which the CTO already knows that its marketing strategy has been successful, despite the critics, is in the area of internal marketing–encouraging Cypriots to holiday in their own country.
An advertising campaign on billboards, radio, print media and television led to a 40% increase in stays by Cypriots in all towns over the summer.
“This year hoteliers relied a great deal on overnight stays by Cypriots, which helped a lot,” noted Katsouris. There is also a secondary reason for advertising to Cypriots, namely to educate the local population in order to help Cypriots promote tourism in the best manner. Part of the tourism strategy therefore includes education in schools and cultural events.
Involving the private sector
As an economics graduate Katsouris also appreciates the importance of including the private sector.
“In every area you have to get the private sector involved,” she said.
The CTO therefore has incentive schemes to bring the private sector into areas such as encouraging new products, sponsoring mega events such as the Cyprus Rally, wine festivals and building sports facilities.
The CTO strategy also goes beyond incentives for tourist facilities and into areas such as accounting. For example, it was one of the sponsors of a research paper on financial reporting for tourism companies organised by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Chair in Accounting and Intercollege.
Encouraging new products
A large number of initiatives are also under way to help encourage diversification from “sand and sea” to “sand and sea plus”.
Priorities in this area include golf, conference, nautical, sport, cultural and nature tourism.
“The Cyprus Tourism Organisation has undertaken a massive amount of research that will be communicated to the private sector,” said Katsouris.
To this end, consultative committees have been set up among the CTO, the government and private-sector bodies, such as the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KEVE).
For example, the CTO is currently in consultation with the Hoteliers’ Association, the Cyprus Medical Association and KEVE to try to promote medical tourism in Cyprus.
Other new products being investigated are thematic parks and “wellness” tourism, which would include facilities such as spas.
“We are the catalyst in bringing our knowledge of the sector to investors and consultants and the government departments that have to give incentives,” said Katsouris.
There will also be another attempt to build a new marina in Paphos and Katsouris is encouraged by the interest being shown.
“There is a keen interest in seeing the project through,” she said.
Heavy emphasis on sports
More generally, there will be a heavy emphasis on promoting sports. These include CTO incentives for a shooting club in Larnaca, a golf club in Famagusta, rowing in the Kouris dam, and subsidies to encourage visits by internationally renowned football teams.
A central reservation system for booking teams into grounds, accommodation and so on will also boost the attractiveness of the offer. The CTO already financed around 80% of the cycling marathon in 2005, which it hopes to repeat in March 2006.
Upgrading the current offering
The CTO is also involved in upgrading the quality of products already on offer. Katsouris said that there has been strong interest in the incentives that should take effect in 2006 either to demolish low quality hotels and apartments encourage their alternative use.
In addition, with an eye to an increasing demand for “authenticity”, the CTO will issue a new set of ratings that will class outlets such as tavernas according to the authenticity of the ambience, the dishes served, the friendliness of waiters. Hotels will be marked on a whole range of areas, including the quality of the breakfast and how many languages hotel staff can speak.
To help workers in the tourism sector, CTO will sponsor training in the knowledge of local wines, traditional cuisine and other aspects of local culture.
Peeling away the red tape
The CTO is also mandated to identify constraints on upgrading tourism, such as licensing or other regulations “to bridge the gap between government intervention and private-sector investment,” said Katsouris.
Many CTO regulations for hotels which “have nothing to do with tourism”, such as building coefficients, will be removed and the competence for such areas transferred to the planning authorities.
To promote city-break tourism, the CTO is working with standing committees that include the private sector to reduce red tape and, in so far as it has influence, to encourage town planning authorities to create the right business conditions for smaller operators.
To bridge the gap between local and municipalities’ desires not to clutter the landscape with signposts and the visitors’ need to find their way around, the CTO has produced maps for every village involved in agrotourism, indicating where to find the accommodation and sights or how to find local restaurants and facilities.
Katsouris noted that many sectors still depend to a large degree on the tourism sector, which accounts for some 15-20% of GDP.
Many indirect benefits accrue to agriculture, which provides much of the food for the two million plus visitors per year, and to light manufacturing, which produce items such as soap, cosmetics, clothing and footwear products.
“That’s why tourism is the engine of the economy. Tourism has great weight in the economy and we have to manage it very wisely,” she said.
Fiona Mullen
