Have a glass of Wine in Cyprus

I have recently had a very nice chat with an expert in Tourism who is very sensitive to how sustainable is the tourism activity. Someone who I respect very much and who I strongly believe his views are valid and very reasonable. Views I share and I find extremely easy to understand and follow.

During our relaxed chat I have realised that he has been around in Cyprus and at one point he was disturbed by the fact that in a traditional Cypriot taverna he has been offered South American wine. Nothing wrong with wines from Argentina or Chile but those wines, he said, are to be drunk in the adequate places. Can you imagine how much gasoline was spent to bring me this bottle of wine all the way from South America in order to drink it with Cypriot Meze?, he added.

This comment made me go back in the beginning of the nineties when an official from the state (hygienic inspection) visited my family’s stone built hotel in Pafos, to make a hygiene  inspection. On his report, he wrote down that the hotel was not “up to European standards” since the bread the hotel offered was made in wood oven and without proper installations. This report went on and on for months until the authorities got tired .  The bread was made by my grandmother, (today aged 87), who was kneading the dough in a wooden kneading container (see picture here), fermenting covered in white cotton cloths and baked in wood oven at the summer restaurant of the hotel.

Today, 20 years later, I realised how idiot the inspector was and how ignorant we were to let him step in our traditions, I realised that the Europeanization of the Cypriot tourism industry went down the wrong path just because of idiotic reactions and guidelines.

I feel that my friend was very right to be disturbed for having to drink South American wine, I feel that he is very right when he stresses out that sustainability is tradition and that tradition is authenticity. I feel that we deliberately lost those two very important elements in Cyprus, but I also know is totally feasible to recover them fast enough in order to get back on the right track. The question is who is going to start the “fire” first. When I volunteered long ago to do it, some people thought I went crazy, today I know they are the ones who went crazy so I keep the “fire” on waiting for you to join me for a glass of red wine probably from the hills of Paphos, from Vouni Panayias.

Larnaca Airport, the only jewel

The unfortunate black-out of the runways in Larnaca Airport has created in my opinion too much noise. Hermes Airports has proven to be an efficient and very responsible company delivering without one day of delay 2 brand new airports for Cyprus according to the planed and signed schedule.

Hermes airports is the only company who made Cypriots proud the last years. The international airports of Paphos (PFO) and Larnaca (LCA) are definitely the only jewel on the Cypriot Crown. The Republic of Cyprus has never been able to deliver any public work without creating a wave of corruption scandals (I remind you XEKTE who built the highway Nicosia – Limassol and many other scandals that have also been pointed in various reports throughout the years) , the 2 airports have been the only public works that have actually finished on time and worked on time sine the independence of Cyprus.

The operation of the two airports is not an easy job, accidents and unfortunate happenings will happen until the “intestine” of the airports is smooth.  I was present at a major black-out of the Boston airport due to extreme weather conditions, I was also “captured” by extreme weather in London Heathrow that caused serious problems in the operation of the Airport but I did not experiment the criticism of the politicians.
Cypriot politicians should not make any comment, on the contrary they should think that they live in a “glass house” and a minor stone could demolish it. Politicians in Cyprus have managed in 30 years to convince the Cypriot citizens, that when it comes to public works are incapable to bring them to a good port.

If I were a political figure in Cyprus I would go out and ask for forgiveness for not doing my job for so many years.

Happy Holidays, and let's make more out of 2010

Instead of wishing for your wishes to come true, Make wishes true!!!

Every 9 seconds someone gets closer to making their wishes a reality. Onward looking to 2010, optimism and courage will be required, and at avantless we wanted to anticipate 2010 contributing with a message of hope for those who have made a personal decision to change their life through entrepreneurship and or by teaming up in a entrepreneurial group. To make our action count, we have joined forces with KIVA , a lending system that allows you to determine who to lend a hand. Whether it’s a baker in Afghanistan, a hotelier in Peru, or a restaurateur in Cambodia, we believe that this is a powerful means to empower someone to aim for self-sustaining independence. As in any lending system, you get your money back and choose later to keep reinvesting. As the loans made out by Avantless Development fund in 2009 have all been repaid in full – Yes 100%; this shows the integrity and the honesty of those who use those loans. 25 Dollars for us is probably a coffee with friends, but for many people it can mean a difference of a lifetime on earth. Join the avantless to strengthen the EMERGENCE team on KIVA and make your 25 Dollar loan and change people’s life. Merry Christmas to all and let’s make more out of 2010. Warmest regards  To help improve a more sustainable tourism model, I decided  not to send any  paper Christmas cards.

Libra holidays, Allbury Travel Group and E-Clear the end of story

I hate predicting bad news. Two months ago my intuition and the market made me think that Allbury Travel group was going to go down the drain taking with them customers and suppliers and so I published it here

The websites of the group are already down and they stop selling those destinations the group used to have in its portfolio. The hotels in Greece, Turkey, Cyprus etc. are getting nervous, the handing agents are hitting their heads and the authorities keep silent.

The perfect excuse is the financial crisis; the reality though is still to be proven. I am sorry to see that once again the law and its guardians are unable to stop fraud. What is going to happen now? Are they going to come back with a new name? New directors? New image? This is a movie we saw again.
Anyway this was a nasty Christmas present for the 100 passengers in destinations and the 4000 customers that made bookings with them.

My only advice to hotels and suppliers is to revise their collaborators, look at their contacts and make sure they have all the guarantees in place locally as well. Allbury Travel Group has never obtained any kind of licence in Cyprus for example and they had contracts with many hotels.

According to the Daily Telegraph there is more to that, it seems that the Greek Elias Elia, E-Clear's chief executive is understood to have a controlling stake in Allbury's parent company. Allbury has also been linked to the card-payment processor under examination by the administrators of Globespan.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is pursuing E-Clear to find out why the company held back more than £30m owed to Globespan, the owner of Flyglobespan.com, which operated flights from Scotland to holiday destinations such as Spain.

Business Meetings in Cyprus

When we are looking for a place for business meetings most of the times we think of business environment. Cyprus meetings industry offers a unique scenery for business meetings. Away from the tight corporate environment close to the splendid Mediterranean sea and the green Mediterranean forest, away from high traffic streets and far from stressful situations.

During the EIBTM 2009 in Barcelona, Cyprus presented the wide offer of accommodation, mmeting facilities and activities the meeting consumer can enjoy.