Online Marketing for Hotels and Travel Agents

I would like to thank all the participants who attended our seminar today Tuesday the 15th of September at the Ajax Hotel in Limassol. Personally I have enjoyed the active participation and the exchange of views on how the Cypriot Hotelier and the incoming agent could face the changes of the global market online.

Special thanks to our hosts , Ajax Hotel, for the great hospitality the excellent quality of the coffee breaks and the fabulous buffet lunch at their restaurant. Great tastes of real Cyprus and Mediterranean food accompanied by the attention of Akis Ioannides the General Manager and the staff of the hotel.

Also I would like to thank each and every participant form the hotels and agencies of the area. From the Holiday Inn Limassol Christos Rousos, from Pekos Hotel Nefytos Efstathiou, from the Mediterranean Hotel Sotiris Kaffa and Christina Lambrou, from Amathus Hotel Eugenios Savva, from Four Seasons Limassol Nick Aristou who shared with us valuable information concerning his activity online, Konstantina Eftathiou from Sun House Travel, from A.L Matnovani Travel Evros Theophanous and Julia Papageorgiou from JPP Marketing.

All of them have shown great interest and very active participation and made me become a better trainer, defiantly their experiences are of enormous value to me and to the seminnar.

Last but not least I would like to thank my assistant Maria Shaili-Papamiltiadous for her uncondtional support and fantastic work following the pace of the presentation and her more than valuable work concerning paperwork.

Next stop, Paphos the 22nd of September. Looking forward to welcoming the tourism sector of Pafos.

Illegal operation of Libra Holidays in Cyprus

Libra Accommodations CY LTD, the company that signed accommodation contacts with Cypriot Hoteliers was operating illegally in Cyprus.

After the court case P.C Mavros Vs Libra in Cyprus (Paphos District Court (case number 3806/07) dated 26 Nov. 2008 9 the vale was uncovered. According to the Cypriot Registrar of Companies, Libra Accommodations (CY) LTD with Directors among others Mr. Adreas Drakou (known as managing director of the fatal Helios Airways ) , Mr. Themis Drakou , Mr. Adreas Koumis (who resigned the 13th of March 2007), Mr. Theodoros Antoniou (who also resigned the 20th of June 2007) was formed as a company the 17th of February 2000. This company has since then signed various accommodation contacts with various hotels in the Republic of Cyprus but they NEVER had an operating licence on the island. The Cyprus Tourism Organisation has never given this company a licence to operate as an incoming travel agent and therefore Libra Accommodations CY Ltd has never been a proper, legal tour operator or travel agent with licence to bring tourist in Cyprus.

In 2007 Libra stop paying many hoteliers among others the small hotel Apollo Hill in Pafos. After long discussions and negotiations Apollo Hill operated by a family company ( P.C. Mavros and Sons LTD) took the case to the court and on the 26th of November 2008 the court decided against Libra. When the civil servants of the court went to Libra offices in Limassol, they discover that the company had nothing at all as moveable of fixed assets, neither any cash to fulfil the decision of the court.

P.C. Mavros and Sons LTD has contacted the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) offices in order to claim the bank guarantee all agents deposit according to the law. It was then when the owner of P.C. Mavros and sons LTD discovered that Libra did not even requested an operating licence.

As a conclusion we can say that Libra Holidays that is the mother company of Libra Accommodations has been operating since the year 2000 (for 9 years until today) illegally in Cyprus.

Picture Above: From left to the right:

Mr. Photis Photiou (President of CTO in 2005), Mr. Andreas Drakou (Managing Director of Libra Holidays Group), Akis Kyprianou (Executive Director of Libra Holidays Group- in 2005 who resigned in 2007).

Libra Holidays Press Release

Emerging Tourist Markets and the Internet

According to the latest research made by Nielsen, Internet is the favourite means of Chinese when searching for tourist information in their effort to choose their holiday destination.

According always to Nielsen, 61% of the Chinese who travelled for leisure have searched the basic information for their destination on the web and 48% of those have consulted interactive websites like Rating Sites, Forums, Social Media, Blogs etc to confirm that the information found on the destination’s official sites are valid.

As a result of the same research it is mentioned that the comments and experiences shared on the internet from other travellers largely affect the new travellers’ decision. The research also showed that the traditional travel agents are only involved in two out of the five trips that Chinese travellers are undertaking. Furthermore, 70% remember the online destination advertisements more than the other means of communication and 40% remember the corresponding advertisements from magazines, newspapers, radio and even television.

As a conclusion from the Nielsen research, a clear Online Marketing Policy need to be implemented urgently in order to attract a piece of the pie of approximately 50 million Chinese travellers (official statistics of 2008) who are willing to meet new cultures and explore new destinations. This policy is necessary not only to be implemented by government agencies but is even more importantly by the private sector. This is only achieved through specialized training programs which in Cyprus are subsidized by the Human Resource Development Authority.

What do we do as a destination to attract the interest of the “Red Dragon”? If we take into consideration that by 2013 China will be the first English speaking country worldwide, then as a destination with a strong presence of the English language we should enhance our efforts of attracting Chinese tourists. The different tourist destinations in Cyprus should take action online and reinvent their internet sites so as to become more interactive and human oriented. The Regional Boards of Tourism should at last co operate with the private sector and the professional associations in order to convert their websites into one stop shopping site. Their lack of presence at this moment it only achieves the diversion of internet visitors into the websites of competitors with the meaning of “if you don’t have it, I buy from somebody else”. Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) cannot and should not play this role since the diversity of our resorts should be marketed by the resorts and this is what Brussels is urging on the framework of the programs for Regional Development. Nevertheless the CTO has already started implementing online PR policy in the different Social Media.

In addition, we should mention here the very important role of the airlines. In the case of China we have the chance due to our geographical location to become a stop over to Europe. The millions of Chinese travellers could stay for one week in Cyprus and one week in any other European country either on their arrival or departure of their country. This can be achieved only with a strong air transport policy on behalf of the government agencies and other bodies.

From the Nielsen research we conclude that the sterile protocols of tourist agreements, such as the one signed on the 13th of May by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr Antonis Paschalides, are useless unless they are followed by feasible and state blessing B2B agreements.

Business to business agreements can be accomplished with the presence of Cypriot tourist businessmen on the framework of events such as the professional tourist exhibition China Outbound Travel Trade Market (www.cottm.com) which takes place in Beijing every spring (for 2010 it will take place from 28th to 30th April).