CTO wants Cyprus ad campaign funds for CNN-Eurosport

The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) is seeking House approval for a budget of CYP 870.000 or EUR 1.5 mln to finance an advertising campaign on CNN and Eurosport to promote Cyprus as a tourism destination. The CTO is also seeking a second budget allocation amounting to CYP 930.000 or EUR 1.6 mln for a similar promotion campaign.

CTO Chairman Panos Englezos appeared before the House Finance Committee to defend the CTO’s promotion strategy, which as yet has not delivered the desired increase in tourism numbers.

The CTO has allocated CYP 495.000 to be spent on CNN, which also includes sponsoring “The Art of Life” programme as well as banner ads on the home page for the January-June 2007 period.

For Eurosport, the budget expenditure amounts to CYP 375.000, consisting mainly 30 second spots, the sponsorship of two major tennis tournaments and banner adverts on the web site.

The CTO’s budget allows for CYP1.8 mln to be spent on international advertising. This fund has been locked by Parliament, with deputies such as EDEK’s Marinos Sizopoulos requesting a detailed explanation of exactly where all the money goes and how it is being spent.
Englezos said that it costs an estimated CYP20 mln to project Cyprus tourism abroad, half of the CTO’s entire annual budget. He added that the state received an estimated annual income of CYP1.3 bln from tourism, which makes up around 15% of the island’s GDP.
At the same time, he continued, the CTO was in constant contact with Cypriot hotel owners and travel agents, as well as local authorities, to co-ordinate ad campaigns and achieve the organisation’s aim to project Cyprus tourism in Europe and all over the world.
Responding to DISY deputy Lefteris Christoforou who said that the tourism contribution to Cyprus’ GDP has declined from 20% to 13%, the CTO chairman said the island’s tourism would improve further if more funding was given by the state to fund its programmes.
Englezos said the CTO’s efforts to make low-cost airlines include Cyprus on their list of destinations had paid off, adding there had been significant increases in arrivals from Greece, Russia and Scandinavia.
From January-April 2007, there were 40,525 arrivals from Greece up from 34,433 arrivals during the same period last year, 6,277 arrivals from Norway compared to last year’s 4,578, 14,280 arrivals from Sweden compared to 9,672, and 14,575 arrivals from Russia up from last year’s 11,556.
Expressing the hope that these increases would continue, Englezos said they would offer some compensation for the decrease in tourism from Britain, Cyprus’ main tourism market.
Total tourist arrivals during the first four-month period of 2007 were considerably down compared to the year before. In the first four months of 2006 there were 434,645 arrivals, with only 408,572 in the same period this year, 6% less.

Revenue from tourism however, was down 1% year-on-year until March at CYP 82.3 mln. In 2006, total tourism arrivals to Cyprus declined 2.8% YoY to 2.4 mln while revenue from tourism was up 2.2% YoY to CYP 1.03 bln.