S.O.S Cyprus

"the real economy of Cyprus, is and has always been -Tourism." 

Cyprus is undergoing a financial Tsunami. The Cypriot business model may well have been proved unsustainable but, it is one that is followed by several small E.U countries such as Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, etc. The big difference being these nations are not at the centre of the most important economic and energetic cross-roads of the Western, Eastern, and Arab world.

Homer in his time described Cyprus as being ‘the whore of the Mediterranean’,  today our ‘services’ ,with the discovery of sufficient natural gas reserves capable of supplying the every single EU country for the next few decades, are more than ever in demand from powerful outside interests. This has sparked off the current crisis emanating from Germany.

The eternal rivalry between German friendly countries and Russia has found in us a new battle ground. When asked what kind of weapons would be used in a Third World War, Einstein remarked he did not know then the weapons that would be used in a Third World War, but that he was pretty sure that the Fourth World War would be fought with stones.  The Third World War we are living now. It broke out in Lisbon in 2008 with the so called Lisbon Convention when the Franco – German alliance thought that the heart of Europe was beating in Berlin and Paris.  Some months later the French realized the Germans had a hidden ace and that German strategic commercial positions were much superior. In only three years Germany managed to become the “EU steam engine”.

For us, the simple people of Cyprus, Cypriot nationals, the UK Nationals, Russians, Germans, Swedish, Dutch along with other foreign passport holders who live and work in Cyprus  all that is but political chess playing with a good dose of poker thrown in. At the end of the day all this political gamesmanship does is to confuse, disrupt, and distress.

Today, our less than appealing Cypriot politicians, are calling for us to ‘Save Cyprus’, a bit of a cheek on their part considering they are utterly incapable of saving or solving anything, other than their own backsides with all having the requisite masters degree plus PHD in self survival techniques. Over the past week there has been a wall to wall Muppet show episode on Cypriot TV (without the clever humor or remotely interesting characters)  the supposed star of the show being our Ex – President Demetris Christofias performing a vanishing act, his communist party spending air time only criticizing the new government. Then we had our newly elected conservative president Nikos Anastasiades failing spectacularly to prove he had the essential guts ( for the last 2 years he was metaphorically exhibiting these as a vote catcher) when he did not get up and exit the Euro-group last Saturday.

With our avaricious Cypriot banking system teetering on the edge, we now know how easy it is to pass from the donkey to the Mercedes and back to the donkey in less than twenty four hours.

 The fear the Euro group implanted in our brains by “suggesting” cutting of bank deposits went way beyond Cypriot borders. Every sector of the European middle classes felt the icy hand of Mrs. Merkel and her followers hovering above their wallets. It is utterly immoral to expect European citizens to pay for the gross mismanagement of the banking sector. Of course, scaring people has always been an effective weapon, but, when scared, people often react in an illogical and spasmodic manner.  Panic is the worst enemy and that is exactly what the Euro-group succeeded in provoking.

Now, we need to figure out what path we should follow. It is clear that Cyprus is capable of creating a domino effect in the euro zone, making it the perfect excuse for Frau Merkel to step in and raid everyone’s bank accounts. We do need to have a breathing space, we need to lose the panic mode, and we need to start asking all the EU countries what kind of Europe we really do want.

When the Cypriot banks open most foreign deposits will go, flying off to Malta or Luxemburg, the Cypriot banking system will shrink, 6-8000 thousand people will be unemployed and some hundreds of Bank branches will become empty shells. However, banking is not the real economy of Cyprus, the real economy of Cyprus, is and has always been -Tourism.

If you are a middle class European citizen do not ask Cypriots to give you part of their savings but help them save your savings. Help us save your money by spending it here in Cyprus. Go on your computer and book a low cost flight to Larnaca or Pafos, find your accommodation and if possible book it directly skipping any middle men to enjoy a week long holiday (or more) in any beach or mountain resort in Cyprus. In doing so you will be pumping into the real economy the equivalent of high quality oxygen and in return you will experience value for your money both in the  hospitality and sheer beauty of the island.
Don’t ever underestimate us please, we are determined NOT to be Europe’s ‘experiment’ and tourists can set us free from being wired up lab rats.

To those planning to come to Cyprus in 2013 I personally invite to come down to the seafront where at the municipal baths you will find me every morning taking a morning dip in the company of a bunch of friends so please Contact me on twitter @petrosmavros –then I can look forward to meeting you and over a complimentary coffee say thank you for being such a welcome visitor to our lovely island.

A new era in Managing Tourism - Cyprus should set new goals

We are heading towards the end of another summer season. Soon we will hear the voice of smug satisfaction from the mouths of those in charge of tourism in Cyprus. They will tell us: - “We have had a 3, 34% increase in arrivals, with 7.3% increase in income from last year, this means we are doing well”.

‘My goodness’, you say to yourselves-‘we are doing well, even better than expected’. –But - the $64.000 question has to be: - What exactly did our tourist experts do in order to present us with these apparently improved statistics. .

This year the circumstances have been highly favourable in that we had the Russian tourists who filled some gaps, the UK and German markets had left behind.  And more, much more than this, is in our “favour” with the Middle East under siege, our small tranquil island then became a peaceful summer oasis for travelers.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that we should now be managing tourism as a natural resource, the same way Denmark for example manages their oil resources.  In order to do this the major tourism agency of Cyprus, and I mean, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (C.T.O.) will now have to swiftly evolve to become a creditable engine of sustainability and not, as it currently operates as an engine of sterile promotion.
The C.T.O. have to radically change its modus operandi away from their purely policing policy, and move into the serious role of being an effective professional consultant, offering much needed expertise for business owners. Key to this 21stCentury thinking has to be the radical and much needed break away from the political handcuffing it currently struggles under, and the entire organisation needs to run by true travel professionals.

Yes, there were the good old days, when three of four agreements with the so called large tour operators were sufficient to satisfy the short term need of filling those empty rooms. But, times have changed, marketing to the masses is dead, we will swiftly forget the term e-tourism, soon we will only talk about m-tourism (mobile tourism).  We predict the next 5 years will see more smartphone and tablet users than the combined population of France and the UK. That also means our travel products will have to become mobile and be much more engaging, but, to achieve this aim we do need to become a truly sustainable travel entity.

Becoming a world class sustainable travel destination will certainly not take us out of the recession, but it will lead us to a more equally shared travel pie the slice of which will give jobs to the young, create investment opportunities for the foreign investor, and assure state and private funding for generations to come.

Today, Cyprus is straddling the two concepts of sustainability and feasibility, the point being a feasible business is not necessary a sustainable one, but a sustainable business is definitely a feasible one.
‘And now that the end is near’-, we should learn from the example set by the third world Colombian Amazon village of Nazareth. This community do not allow tour operators and travel agents to bring tourists into the Amazon jungle, it’s the indigenous people who take care of all accommodation, guidance, information, and general hospitality, the end result is travelers appreciate much more this human user friendly approach compared to the one we have long adopted which is to “cater to meet needs “.

The Colombian Amazon, and the rainforests are no more, or less, important than the Akamas, and British tourists who visit Sumatra and Nazareth are banned from careering around in Quad bikes in their protected environments. Why then are tourists allowed to do it here?

We seem to be many miles away as far as comprehending how important tourism is as a long term natural resource, one that can and should feed us all- if handled properly, one that will allow businesses to flourish, and importantly, one that we can pass on not with regret ‘that we didn’t see it through without exemption’-but with pride, for the next generation to keep on nurturing.

Cyprus Tourism - Head in Sand Time?

On January 10th Ryan air announced it would offer 80 flights a week to 14 new destinations, investing in Cyprus nearly 110million euros to bring 600.000 passengers a year and provide jobs for 600 people.
The airline was the first to take advantage of the governments new incentives to boost tourism which included a substantial drop in landing fees.

Described by the head of the CTO as ‘the start of huge potential for Cyprus’-and as ‘a watershed for Cyprus’ -by Ryan Air deputy chief Michael Crawley.

Every thing seemed to be moving in the right direction for both parties, with an agreement which was mutually beneficial, assuring in the main a sustainable and long term relationship between the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and Ryan Air.

Eight months down the line cracks are beginning to show with threats from Ryan air to ‘pull the plug’ on Cyprus and so dissolve their partnership.

The original agreement between the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the airline, as explained by Mr Orountiotis President of the CTO is the same agreement they have struck with other airlines and tour operators.

Now, Ryan Air are threatening to close Larnaca flights due to high fuel costs and are claiming a 100% increase on the promotion fees the CTO is offering.

A somewhat predictable scenario given the standard operating policy of Ryan air and their prime objection of ‘route profitability’.  Ryan Air has played this card many times before and they will continue to do so, for that is their avowed strategy.

Sadly, the history of Tourism in Cyprus reads a bit like Groundhog Day with the powers that be always repeating the same mistakes, mainly in their inability to practice the art of flexibility, to be able to look ahead with regard to the countries need to diversify its source markets, all without creating a structure of total dependency on either tour operators or airlines.

A roll back in time shows us what happened - the demise of Cypriana holidays in the 1990’s followed by the inevitable bankruptcy of Libra holidays, not forgetting our national carrier- Cyprus Airlines -which now looks perilously close to flying off into the sunset never to return.

The Republic of Cyprus has long subsidised our ailing national carrier, as well as promoting an over protectionist routing policy. Cyprus has to now waken up to the fact that routes need to be substituted by an open skies policy which can then turn the country into a profitable destination for every foreign airline.
We would then experience not only healthy competition but it would also allow increased interest to develop new source markets.

The grim facts have to be faced as Cyprus Airways is now one wing tip short of bankruptcy, and an open skies policy will most certainly send it into a fatal nose dive.

This of course would then leave politicians of all political parties brutally exposed, and that’s why the powers that be will not be available for an honest and open debate on this very important if not vital change to our current tourism policy.

Death on ‘A corner of earth touched by heaven’ - Mother dies on a five star holiday to Cyprus

An online site promoting Northern Cyprus describes the area as being ‘A corner of earth touched by heaven’. In describing the locals the effusive copy tells us that the ‘Cypriot people are always cheerful, calm and hospitable’.  Sounds inviting doesn’t it? ....Of course it is, especially for those folk currently entombed in rain soaked Britain who haven’t seen the sun for months and who ache to go on holiday.

Fine.. I have no problem with that except that one has always got to counter the ‘cute copy’ used by these travel people and remind ourselves occasionally that this ‘corner of earth’ was also touched by bloodshed after the illegal invasion by the Turkish army in 1974, and one has to seriously doubt if there is to be found a genuinely ‘cheerful, calm, and hospitable Cypriot currently living in the occupied North, after they had their homes and businesses taken from them by the occupying forces.

But leaving that aside for the moment, one must stop and wonder at what tourists expect and receive from a holiday in the north, yes... they have fine hotels the majority having been taken from their rightful owners and turned over to Turkish migrants to run. No doubt the Turkish government told these migrants that they were going to go and live in a ‘corner of the earth touched by heaven’ and so they were sent over to the Occupied North to populate and run the north as part of the Turkish state.

This is where we now come to several difficulties as these probably well meaning family folk and workers did indeed work hard to make a livelihood they renovated the hotels and so set themselves up as hoteliers.

The key here is no one recognises within the EU the illegal state of “Northern Cyprus”  so tourists finding themselves attracted to cheaper prices than in southern Cyprus (the legally owned part of the island) can and do find themselves in trouble. The tragic case last year of the Englishwoman who stayed with her partner at a five star hotel only to die there after drinking from a water bottle containing cleaning fluid, left there by accident on a bedside table by the maid after she had cleaned the couples room.

A terrible thing to happen in this corner of earth and her partner will now have no end of trouble if he tries to pursue for compensation against the management of the hotel.

The legitimate and mercifully professional part of this island has strict hotel training systems in place which would disallow the potential for this sort of accident occurring. The legitimate Cyprus may well be a bit more expensive than the illegally occupied North but here you do have rights and are fully covered by EU laws.

Much has been said and done about the ‘Cyprus Problem’ what we should be doing is ensuring our tourists are safe no matter where they holiday on this island, we should continue to find ways to offer inclusivity towards the Turkish Cypriots,  something we are doing from this side of the island for many years now by organising day trips for visitors to the occupied north under the legal shield the UN via the Cyprus Green Line Agreement. What we don’t want is for the northern corner ‘touched by heaven’ to become a danger death zone for foreign tourists, here-we cannot afford to have headlines in the Daily Mail newspaper that scream ‘Mother dies on a five star holiday to Cyprus’.

For many tourists Cyprus is Cyprus -whether it’s Northern or Southern, most don’t actually care about what happened 38 years ago that caused this separation of the country, they see the prices and go.yes it’s hot there and they have great beaches... book it!

Unless we can all work together under EU legality in tourism to better our products and make safe our visitors then we will continue to receive fallout from the somewhat lack lustre capabilities currently being promoted within that ‘corner of earth touched by heaven’.

APOEL vs Real Madrid, Scoring League Points.

The European Champions league quarter final between Apoel v Real Madrid offered a classic long odds, underdog story, given the huge disparities between the two clubs, the Nicosia based Apoel barely belonged on the same field as the mighty Madrid team.

They had to face Real Madrid one of the most consistent and richest winning teams of all time, with celebrity coach Jose Mourinho, and a line up that includes three of the top eleven players in the Castrol rankings, a team that had reached the knockout round after posting the best group stage record in history. There was no question in the minds of the football pundits that: - Apoel a team listed 100 in the UEFA’S rankings of European clubs, who had never won a Champions league group game and a club that worked with a lowly budget of under 10 million Euros -a budget less than the annual take home pay of Cristiano Ronaldo: - Apoel was without doubt –going down.

They did, losing to the Spanish team by 3 goals –Apoel didn’t score a goal on the field but they metaphorically scored-hitting their opponents  net multiple times in the eyes and minds of both supporters and even the pundits. This ‘small’ country team stood their ground against the might of Madrid for 70 action packed minutes without conceding a goal.

The game acted as a classic metaphor for the tourist industry, where small countries do have the right or, should I say the absolute prerogative, to be able to play in the tourism equivalent of the Champions league. A red card shouldn’t be waved in the faces of small countries whose tiny budgets mock the big leaguers, small countries can and do produce imaginative –creative proposals and they will invariably offer client’s higher levels of flexibility to equal even exceed that of a mass tourist destination.

Small countries will never be top of the tourist league but they will play and win points for the sheer unadulterated conviction at being able to get out there and show, like Apoel that although overpowered, outclassed, and  out of pocket, they always display verve, nerve, and pride in what they do, regardless of the outcome, small may not always rise to the top but they will always be ready to play, and unlike some of the big hitters in the tourist business, they wont be prone to hitting any own goals.

Ryan Air, a Mixed Blessing?

The recent agreement between Hermes airports and Ryan Air for the opening of their 50th operational base in Europe has to be looked at as both a blessing and a curse. We can count the blessings as follows.-
1. Ryan air will be committed to invest a substantial amount of money in order for the operational base to become viable.

2. Ryan Air will set tourist targets and when met this means a significant increase in tourist traffic to Cyprus. One can look at the success of Ryan Airs partnership with Spanish airports such as Girona and Reus.

3. Ryan Air is not into just one specific market such as the bucket shop package traveller, they are for the first time targeting the free independent traveller (FIT).

Like all blessings we should receive them gratefully, but at the same time we have to managing them correctly. Ryan Air, flying in plane loads of multiple blessings to Pafos means we have to look seriously at what we, as one half of the partnership can offer in return. According to the press officer of Pafos Hoteliers Association Mr. Evripides Loizides he summed up the current dilemma that is dancing around the minds of clear minded Pafos based businesses. ‘Ryan Air has arrived, but its now time we started to get really serious as a tourist destination’.

To date the Pafos tourist scene is viewed with pessimism by those in the business and there is a genuine fear that sectors within the market are not going to be entirely responsive to the demands made by this new wave of travellers.

A complete change of attitude has to start from the top down with our elected officials now having to waken up to the fact that with the arrival of independent tourists we have to quite simply ‘clean up our act’ and instead of the usual indifference and apathy, our municipal and community leaders have to get into the mind set of sustainability rather than ‘fast attainability.

We must also address the expected increase in traffic going to and from the airport, with there being a more noticeable demand for car rentals, taxi hire, mini buses etc, modes of transport which will carry more tourists but in much smaller groups. Pessimism is rife as to the anticipated increase in accident rates as our less than civil taxi drivers continue to follow the ‘old ways’ of unbridled rudeness mixed with a good dose of road rage. Deep pessimism also abounds when it comes to those restaurants who will no doubt continue their blinkered short term thinking by offering  their usual serving of ‘customer scare’ rather than the anticipated ‘customer care’.

What’s actually needed is for us to all to be re educated into what exactly the art of tourism really is, how we must now be ready to play a new and effective role, rather than re-enact our constipated, lack lustre, short term mind set formed over the past disastrous decade.

The opportunity offered to us by claiming Pafos as a European Capital of Culture in 2017 coupled with the Ryan Air arrival are ‘good sparks’ which should be igniting the flame of a ‘healthy tourism fire’. The pessimist in me however worries that we may have the making of such a fire but sadly no –one has brought alone the matches.

The Ryan Air agreement could be compared to morphine in that this is an opiate which doubles as both a form of pain relief and as an addictive drug which, if taken to excess results in a slow death. Our sole dependency on Ryan Air can also be viewed as dangerous if we become too addicted, as we have experienced to our cost when we depend so much on tour operators.

Surely the avowed aim to the tourist sector by the state and Cyprus Airports has to be the practice of  healthy independence with no more reliance on addictive practises so we can at long last transform Pafos into an attractive sustainable tourist destination which thrives year in year out without recourse to entering into any unholy, inappropriate, or short term relationships.

One of the fathers of Greek Tourism dies at the age of 90

No,  we are not talking about a travel agent or a hotelier in Greece. We are talking about the Greek of Cypriot origin film director Micheal Kakogiannis.

Kakogiannis’ 8th film “Zorba the Greek” created not only a “cultural phenomenon that transcended filmmaking” (according to the New York Times), but it was the major image builder for the Greek character and culture in the fifties.

Zorba the Greek was probably the first “tourist marketing film” for Greece and the one that lasted for ever. Greece had to wait until Mama Mia musical in 2008 to live again the impact of film making in tourism.

This makes me wonder if there is any better way to promote a destination. Barcelona could not have a better exposure and better marketer than Woody Allen. The “Vicky Christina Barcelona” film gives makes you wanting to take the plane after the lights of the cinema go on. New Zealand has built a whole tourist product and destination after the “Lord of the rings” and proved to be sustainable, profitable and have a growing trend.

Instead of printing huge advertisements in football pitches destinations and tourism organizations could fund culture and through culture they will defiantly get more exposure. Is not the same seeing a banner while Messi marks a goal and watching the whole plot of a film of Woody Allen or Quentin Tarandino taking place in the narrow roads of Lofou or Pafos center. But this is maybe at this time would sound like  “Pulp Fiction” to some ears.

Tourism in Cyprus is a beach pleasure

Cyprus is the safest place to swim in Europe. According to the European Commission, the Cypriot seawater is has the best water quality among the 27 member states. The report edited by the European Environment Agency evaluates Cyprus with 100%.

Despite that the water quality in Europe has fallen a bit from 2009 to 2010, Cyprus scores first.

So if you are a sea lover you have just found your sea paradise. Cyprus beach holidays may sound boring or “normal holidays” but if you search a bit you will be able to discover hidden corners that tourists did not reach yet. In the area of Pafos you could take a bath almost alone in Akamas area, or Pyrgos Tylirias, or even a closer costs like the ones near the birth place of Aphrodite.

You can even join us for a coffee at the Paphos municipal baths where we swim 365 days a year and at this time of the year we take our bath at 6 am. In order to get a great start up of the day.

The future of Cyprus Tourism without Cyprus Airways

Cyprus Airways possible bankruptcy is probably the biggest scandal in the recent history of Cyprus and defiantly the biggest in the history of Cyprus tourism as an industry.
The airline has been for years now the easy vote tank for all political parties in Cyprus. The airline was run by incompetent political boards of directors for many years whose only worry was how to jump from the darkness of a board of directors to the enlighten stage of the Parliament or of a Ministry.

The airline suffered different stages of transformation, all of them invisible to the general public since their corporate image is the same since the seventies. Despite the intends of making the airline a profitable company nothing went right. The entry of the airline in the stock market was a fiasco. Private investors, mostly workers from the tourism sector lost lots of money, during the crack of the stock market in Cyprus in 2001. The airline stocks from 10 Cyprus pounds (17 euros) to 5 cents of the euro today. The state did nothing to prevent it and until today people who invested in the airline have very bitter memories and lost fortunes.
The people who work in the travel sector of Cyprus wanted to invest their savings in a company with future and growth perspectives. At that time Cyprus Airways was the sole airline of the Country with lots of great slots and many promising routes in an almost monopolistic regime.
The scandal of Hellas Jet, the sister airline of Cyprus airways which never had a plane and never had a flight that was covered quickly from the government at that time, was only the beginning of the end. Purchasing 2 long hall A340 was probably the other whole in the finances of the company. The bad management was always covered by the different governments of whatever political colour. Now the situation is dramatic. The workers of the airline have made steps to cut down costs by accepting lowering their salaries and taking more responsibilities but the measures come too late am afraid.

Closing down the airline would mean the biggest crash of Cyprus Tourism. The Cyprus Tourism Organisation technocrats and Board of Directors are under lots of pressure since they have no airline to rely a decent strategic plan on. The credibility of the destination will suffer and the country will lose competitiveness. And this happens at a time when the Turkish Cypriots are moving with alliances to boost tourism in the occupied part of the island.

Cypriot economy relies on tourism and for the last 3 years numbers are not the best. The big tour operators find Cyprus too expensive in comparison with destinations like Crete, Turkey of even Dubai. The possible bankruptcy of Cyprus Airways by the end of 2011 (my prediction is November 2011), will give the final shot on the head to the already troubled economy.

Now, what should we do today? In my modest opinion the only way out the Cypriot Travel business man has is to take the airline sector in his hands. Cyprus has a great potential in tourism especially attracting visitors from the eastern part Europe. This potential can only be developed when the Travel Sector of Cyprus makes a move to find a strategic investor and in collaboration with him get the airline sector back on the air.

Hoteliers, Travel agents and local authorities have an important role to play, the matter is now who is going to lead such a movement. The key in my opinion is creating a new airline that will undertake all the slots of Cyprus Airways in the Cypriot and foreign airports, use the trained staff of the airline but be legally based in an EU country that will assure the flights over Turkey. The business model needs to be adapted to a low-cost airline that gives access to Tour Operators as well and open to the public serious and collaborative web strategy.

The path is long but is an one way road to pull Cyprus out of the Tourism crisis and probably is a unique opportunity to redesign Cyprus Tourism from scratch. Having the experience of the past and understanding the errors we made the recovery is possible only under a sensible and open leadership.

Cyprus Airways fails with Russian Market

According to valid unofficial information, Cyprus Airways failed to agree with tour operators from St. Petersburg in Russia to take over the flights of the bankrupt Eurocypria airlines.

Cyprus airways and the Russian stakeholders did not agree on the prices the airline asked and therefore the negotiations have failed. 

This is huge hit towards the bleeding Cypriot Tourism industry since it lets Cyprus tourism without many options to re-conquer the Russian market. Here is worth mentioning that the Cypriot state managed to simplify the visa issue for Russian visitors and only this action gave an increase of 50% on tourism arrivals from the Russian Federation. 

It seems that Cyprus Airways cannot cope with the flights undertaken by the already bankrupt Eurocypria and the promises of the Cypriot administration cannot be fulfilled at least in the short term. This turnout leaves the steam engine of the Cypriot economy without fuel. The Cypriot tourism stakeholders have just had the fist signs of the incompetiveness of their state which will cost to the country much more than tourism arrivals.

Cyprus air transport is going through a very tough period due to corruption and wrong management. The stubbornness of the Cypriot government to hide problems for many years, the boards of directors of the two airlines need to go under investigation now and clarify who is responsible for this very serious economic disaster the country is about to face. At the same time brave decisions are needed to privatise the air transport sector and give back to the market the good name and good reputation in such a way that the tour operators and travels regain trust to Cyprus as a destination.

How can Social Media make money for the travel industry?

The debate about the ROI in implementing Social Media in a business has been going on for quite a long time now. While experts and not so experts struggle to prove that Social Media can make money the different industry leaders do not seen so convinced.

I have been intensively working in the world of Social Media in the travel industry for the last two years and I can assure you that it is a very hard job to prove the profitability of Social Media. The reason is not because is not possible to increase sales “going social” but due to the traditional business practices that have never included Customer Service (offline) to the traditional sales funnel.

Travel stakeholders prefer to go ahead pay per click campaigns and SEO that bring them direct traffic to their sites instead of implementing a time consuming strategy that will eventually give them online reputation, especially when it comes to intermediates that get their money from mass production of room nights and air tickets. Visiblity in he Social Media sphere is indirect and subtle, peer to peer means lost of control and this creates panic to the boards of directors of the big tour operators.

Now, six years after the internet went social tour operators realise that they need to change, they need to change fast and catch their customers they need to focus on customer care before, during and after the sale. Simple email follow-up and reviews are not enough anymore. The end user wants to be pampered and bombarded; the end user demands specialization and destination insights. Openness and authenticity are the most valued content components from the end user, therefore email shots and maniac Twitting is controversial.

The only valid path for the travel industry is to recreate its brand strategy around social media and its components, aggregate users’ content and via conversations and engagement convert them into advocates. This can only be achieved with professional help and domination of insights.

If we now look at destinations like Cyprus, where tourism is the steam engine of the economy and where the global financial crisis has crashed travel traffic dramatically, the local travel stakeholders need to make the move quickly. The “fear” of digital is present but I can assure you that “risky” travel business men and women are getting professional coaching and they are convinced that they can achieve sales growth even now in the most abyss depths of crisis.

E-Tourism Forum Cyprus 2009 - The end of Control Part III

Cyprus Tourism Vs Spanish Tourism

Today, the Spanish ministry of Tourism has announced that the summer season closed with an increase of 4% in foreign tourism arrivals and overnights. Tourism represents 10% of the Spanish GDP and the news presenter of TVE named it “OUR TOURISM”.

Now, here in the all year round island, where love is in the air, the Minister announced an increase of 0,7% from last year, (only on arrivals, no data available for overnights) the CyBC whenever they mention Tourism they never say OUR, they do not feel it as our so they never say it (I guess this is the reason).

Why Spain had a 4% increase (on 47 million arrivals) and Cyprus only 0,7% ? My opinion is because:
1. In Spain regional tourism boards work hard and compete with each other in a natural and healthy way. In Cyprus regionalism is inexistent and when it comes to competition is everything else but healthy. All regions want a Marina and Golf courts… so stupid.

2. In Spain the hoteliers are united against outside threats like the abuse of Thomas Cook, in Cyprus Thomas Cook abuse did not even hit the media and this makes me think that Thomas Cook “bought hotelier silence”. By the way, I am wondering how much money the semi-god Thomas Cook took from the Cyprus Tourism Organisation as “advertisement fees” this year? But this is going to be our next subject…

3. In Spain tourism Marketing is innovative, it shows the way. In Cyprus Tourism Marketing has expired long ago and lost its way.

4. In Spain “the product” has given its protagonism to the end user. In Cyprus the actors got old and forgot their lines. The end user is still waiting to get a comfortable seat.

5. In Spain heritage is the most important, in Cyprus we hide our heritage behind cheap politics and bad, really bad street signage.

6. In Spain tradition has a trade mark, in Cyprus we have betrayed our tradition.

7. In Spain authenticity is natural, In Cyprus authenticity is marginal.

8. In Spain Tourism has a conscious , In Cyprus Tourism has fallen unconscious.

9. In Spain collaboration is real, In Cyprus corruption is real.

10. In Spain they learn from mistakes, In Cyprus we do no mistakes.

I could list 100 reasons but I do not want to make you more tired.

Cyprus tourism is cheap, objective achieved.

Triumph of Cyprus Tourism, the Minister of Trade industry and Tourism announces an increase of 0.7%. In real numbers Cyprus has received 9617 (nine thousand six hundred and seventeen) more visitors for the same period of January until August, last year (2009).

Cyprus tourism has suffered a lot from the economic crisis basically due to the extraordinary well established tourism policy that includes the destruction of all authentic Cypriot Hospitality elements, the abandonment of Cyprus Marketing to third parties like tour operators and smoke-promise givers who understand how states work and how can they absorb funds, and due to the struggle of the stakeholders to keep the prices below Turkey and Egypt in order to gain market share. At the end Cyprus managed to have an increase of 9617 passengers, the effort was worth it, we are Cheap, we are the cheapest we are the best and on top we achieved a whole 0.7% increase in times of crisis. Well done.

I would like to congratulate everyone for this great achievement, I would like to give my sincere congratulations to those who managed to have the cheapest fish and chips, the cheapest milkshakes, the cheapest beer, the cheapest cocktails. I would like to thank all those who contributed in getting the reputation of a cheap destination. I am sorry I cannot put down the names of all I would like to thank because then it will take pages and probably someone will recognise his or her name and take me to court for libel. Anyway they all know who they are, we know who they are.

Well done guys…. What is next ? I cannot wait to listen to your new plans, I hope they at least as good as the old ones.

Cyprus Airways president resigns - Kikis Lazarides leaves Cyprus Airways

The President of the board of directors of Cyprus Airways, Kikis Lazarides,  presented his resignation to the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Demetris Christofias. Mr Lazarides was assigned to this position by the recently deceased last president Tasos Papadopoulos back in 2004.

Everything seems to point that Lazarides has found hard core reactions in both inside and outside the company,  while he wanted to put order in the turbulent economics and politics of the state owned airline.
The scandal of Eurocypria, the ex sister airline of Cyprus airways, that broke a few weeks ago, when suddenly the Cypriot citizen has realized that politicians of many political colours,  have cheated the parliament  to release 35 million Euros to save Eurocyopria last winter  from guaranteed bankruptcy , is only the tip of the iceberg. The General Accountant of the Republic of Cyprus in his report about Cyprus air transport points very clearly the it is unviable and unsustainable  to have 2 state owned airlines in Cyprus and therefore an immediate merge of the two airlines was the first step to survival.

Lazarides, former Banker , president of Laiki Polular Bank, now Marfin Laiki Bank, has found himself in the centre of the hurricane and today he decided to resign. He leaves behind him an uncertain future for the Airline that lacks of flexibility and has very little character of a modern company.  Cyprus Airlines is used to monopolistic routes and has very little view of how the world of air transport has changed the last years. Closed in the walls themselves have built, the airline suffers from the CCSS (Cypriot Civil Servant Syndrome). A virus that lately has been without any vaccination in Cyprus.

The state is the sole owner of both airlines in Cyprus, this creates the perfect scenery for corruption and private political agendas to flourish.  This year is a very tough year for the fragile Cypriot Tourism industry, crisis of this type should be avoided or given a quick and very effective solution. Maybe is time for the Cypriot politicians and micro-politicians to stay out of the management of vital sectors such as air transport.
Cyprus is a profitable destination especially if someone looks the geographic location of the island, with two new airports (run privately)  that are a jewel of out tourism crown, a new generation airline should be born from this.

Lazarides left by himself, what are the others going to do? Would they give up too? My guess is that there is more than one who likes Lazarides chair, people who like political positions but they know they will never be elected not even for the Backgammon club of their village.

My opinion that there is not enough meat for all the vultures on this corpse, but vultures at the end fight amongst themselves for the last piece of skin.

Travel Freely !!! Greek and Cyprus tourism at your reach.

Whatever TV station you have on, whatever radio station you listen, whatever digital or paper newspaper you read, the news are the same. “Greece is in deep financial problems and this is due to the Greeks, the Greek way of thinking, the Greeks lied to the EU and so on and so forth”.

I am sorry Ladies and Gentlemen, but not all the Greeks are the same. Once, with a friend from Turkey at the World Travel Market in London some years ago, we were talking about how similar are Greeks and Turks. Similar when it comes to culture, food, family links etc. Ahmed though, mentioned an important difference that stayed in my memory. “The difference between Greeks and Turks is that we, Turks are have 2,000 very intelligent people who govern our country but you Greeks have 2000 idiots who govern your country despite that the percentage of university graduates is much higher in Greece than in Turkey and this should be a sign of a more educated and cultivated civic society, but still you elect incapable people to run your country” .

Well my friend Ahmed you were very right, those 2000 idiots are now the ones mainly responsible for the bankruptcy of Greece. For those idiots we cannot blame the rest of the people in Greece. Greeks now understood that the only way to save their country and consequently save the Euro and the Euro-zone is by being more productive. Despite that I am not a Greek citizen, but a Cypriot, I must admit that this comment of my good friend Ahmed made me see the Cypriot political reality from a more pragmatic point of view and since I decided not to vote anyone in any elections.
Greece and Cyprus are two connected economies and even more connected societies, and what happens today in Greece may never happen in Cyprus but it is shaking our economy here as well, and the shake is high on the Richter scale.

Greece and Cyprus have an extraordinary natural resource; Tourism. Greece and Cyprus are maybe not unique when it comes to mass tourism and travel, but defiantly both countries have many things to enjoy, discover and feel. Greek and Cypriot people are very hospitable and the Tourism Professionals in both countries have a great experience in taking care of their customers. The financial tsunami that is today swiping the Greek Economy but mostly the Greek society should stop immediately in order not to swipe the Cypriot economy and society and probably put in great danger the social and financial stability of many Europeans outside the borders of Greece and Cyprus.

In my opinion, the only feasible and “non-violent” way to stop this tsunami is if the Greek and Cypriot people have genuine and honest support from the rest of Europeans, especially from the inhabitants of countries with great recovery capacity such as Germany, UK, Holland etc.
Therefore I would kindly ask you all who read this article to consider Greece and Cyprus as your next vacation destination. I would even suggest you to combine the two places. Live your Myth in Greece and Feel Cyprus this Summer, like this you are contributing to the European Economy and European Social Stability.

Last but not least, I promise to all my fellow European citizens that I will do my best to keep the idiots out of power. By the way I would like to clarify that the word idiot is used in this article in the context the Athenians used to use it during the golden era of Athenian Democracy (http://budurl.com/GreekIdiots)

Times have changed for Cyprus Tourism

The poll for Cyprus Tourism has closed. My opinion was different but it seems that there are some optimists. The result is absolutely clear,  61% of the votes remark that current Tourism strategy is not being well graded, overwhelmingly   I would say 5 to 1. Feel free to comment, the results are here below.  The survey was conducted online with IP filter.


Feel free to comment 

How does the Aegean–Olympic merge affect Cyprus Tourism?

Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air are very close signing an agreement that will create the new Greek airline. The 2 companies will very soon announce their merge and the new airline will be called Olympic. The new company will have a structure where the 2 strong men of the two companies will have equal shares, Vasilakis  from Aegean and Vgenopoulos from  Olympic Air (Marfin Group) and the rest of the shares will be in the Greek stock market. The new entity will be owned by Aegean Air by 75% and 25% by Marfin . (News published on Inbusiness news online in Greek)

Now the question drawn from this piece of news is.  When are they going to buy Cyprus Airways,  Eurocypria of both? The bad financial situation of the two Cypriot Airlines should worry the Cypriot Tax payer. The airlines that lately had a media fight about who should close down, are completely sustained by state investment. The state of Cyprus owns 100% of the regular airline (Cyprus Airways) and 100% of the charter airline, Eurocypria. The minister of finance of Cyprus has played his last card for Eurocypria last week at the parliament where he obtained 35 million Euros to inject them in the empty cash drawers of Eurocypria.
Most economists of Cyprus believe that the 2 airlines are not sustainable due to their very high operational costs produced basically by the “heritage” of civil servant employees and the lack of modernization of internal procedures in order to have more flexibility and productivity.

Now with the airports of Cyprus being managed by the private sector the 2 airlines do not have the favours they user to have before (especially before 2004) something that finds them “exposed” to the open global market. If the new Greek airline giant wants to keep the piece of the pie in the Cypriot routes then the option of buying the 2 companies is not a bad one.

We will be waiting to see what the next move is. Vgenopoulos has the expertise in buying Cypriot companies and I am sure he knows the potential of Cyprus as a hub in the eastern Mediterranean.

From this blog I predict that next year the same day we will be talking  about one global Greek and Cypriot air carrier and is then when we will be able to fly to Cyprus with better connections and definitely better prices.

Where does Cyprus Tourism stands, according to Holiday Money Report ?

Holiday Money Report, British Post compares prices to the destinations British tourists usually travel. The 2009 report makes interesting points concerning the position of destinations, amongst them Cyprus, in the UK travel market. We took some points and added our comment and opinion.

• Bulgaria’s cheap packages and low living costs made it popular during the noughties – but another Balkan beach destination, Croatia, stole its thunder in 2009. Cyprus failed to compete due to Airline restrictions and late reaction of the sector, a bit of humbleness would not be bad sometimes.

• Turkey: seemingly unstoppable, resorts like Bodrum and Marmaris gave Turkey mass appeal. As the euro rose in value in the late noughties, a reputation for value and a weak currency made it the obvious choice for families looking for cheaper deals. This was the big bet,  families prefer Turkey due to price but not to quality. Cyprus with the boom of the 2nd house industry forgot tourism and as a domino effect the quality of service simply disappeared.

• Dubai: a 205 per cent rise in Post Office sales of the UAE dirham over the past four years shows that demand for holidays in the Emirate has been unrelenting. Dubai has a model that has never been tried before but its capacity to adapt in crisis environment maintained tourism relatively high and managed to offer value for money and excellent service at the resorts. Despite that Dubai is further from Cyprus the flight to Dubai from the UK was coming out cheaper. Cyprus was not able to play in the same league with Dubai ever but in times of crisis we had the opportunity to compete but we were very busy saving the last bits of the sinking ship.

• Egypt was the top mid-haul destination of the decade. Low package prices and cheap resort prices made Egypt’s Red Sea destinations popular with a 45 per cent growth in Post Office currency sales since 2005. We have no excuse as Cyprus not to be able to compete with Egypt. A destination with almost no infrastructure managed to shoot us on the foot and run away. Private sector was more active than the public sector and they took tourism management very seriously.

• Malta made a successful transition to the eurozone in 2008 and is now one of its cheapest members, with tourist items costing significantly less than in Cyprus, which joined at the same time. It seems that Cypriots have been busy again not managing their tourism. The stock market fraud before the euro and the price increase after the euro have been lethal.

Apostolides’ Lawyer, Constantis Kantounas will file case against 60 tourists that were accommodated in Dome Hotel Kyrenia.

This Blog on the 24th of January 2010 has already given an opinion what could have happen to the tourists that visit  the so called “North Cyprus” and stay in hotels there.

Our predictions were that the owners of hotels could take to court tourists that were accommodated in illegally occupied hotels. The case Apostolides Vs Orams opens the gates to the legal owner to take to court the users of the properties, that means the tourists.

Mr. Constandis Kantounas , the young lawyer who crashed Cherie Blair to the English and European courts, has admitted today in the most read newspaper of Cyprus that he is filing a case again 60 tourists who have been accommodated in the Hotel Dome in Kyrenia. On the post I published the 24th of Jan. 2010  I have used the Dome Hotel as an example without having in mind this fact.

Will this stop the English citizens look for cheap vacations in Cyprus using illegally hotels in the occupied part? Will this stop the hundreds of unconscious Greek Cypriots overnight in Hotels and Casinos in the occupied part of Cyprus.  I am not sure. If the Cypriot state does not take action against them then things will continue to be the same.
I am not against visiting Kyrenia or any other part of the so called “North Cyprus”.  I am against spending money there in activities that are illegal. The Turkish Cypriot workers and shopkeepers have the right to live a decent life but they cannot go against the international law. Their so called government dragged them in labyrinth of lies and fake promises for 35 years now. The only ones who took advantage of these lies are the politicians of both Turkey and occupied part of Cyprus.  I would say that it is time for the people to say something and stop this comedy. The Turkish military and their political allies here in Cyprus have used the people to gain political power and dragged them into a huge 35 year lie.

Now 35 years afterwards we see that using property of someone else illegally can cost you a fortune, sooner or later the law will come and find you. This should be a lesson also for those Greek Cypriots who only last Augusts have spent 450,000 euros in Casinos using credit card. In a country of 700,000 inhabitants we all know who is spending money in illegal casinos that keep financing the Turkish military status quo in our fathers land.

We, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots want to live together, this is a fact, and we want to build a future for our children in peace in a united Europe under the same sun. Politicians, people who use the status quo to make money, people like the Orams and more to come on the surface make things difficult for us.

Apostolides Vs Orams and Tourism in "North Cyprus"

This is what is going to be the impact of the decision of the UK Appeal court in the case Apostolides Vs Orams in tourism in Cyprus, and more concrete, in the occupied side of Cyprus, the so called "North Cyprus"

Form this blog's point of view this legal battle puts back in the right track the issues of Tourism in the occupied by Turkish troops part of Cyprus.

A bit of history: Cypriot tourism starts its development with mostly Greek Cypriot Hoteliers but also some Turkish Cypriot businessmen back in the sixties. After the Turkish invasion in the country in July 1974 the biggest engine of Cyprus Economy, tourism, suddenly stopped working. The reactivation of this engine begun again when the refugee entrepreneurs from the occupied land found the courage to start again from ashes. Hoteliers and travel agents managed to put back on the global tourist map the Cypriot Tourist product with great success. The creation of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation in 1975 was crucial.

In the meantime, the so called Turkish Cypriot authorities have been giving away hotels, land and premises to people they called "legal users".  This was an attempt to create a property status quo in order to assure political pressure. In my sincere opinion this did not serve in any good manner neither the interests of those users nor the interests of any politician in the occupied side on an international level. Giving away property that does not legally belong to you especially in European Union territory can only expose you heavily.

Apostolides Vs Orams case goes a step further. Mr. Meletis Apostolides and his lawyers using common sense managed to prove to all politicians that things cannot be the way they want them to be. Politics should stay out of things like human rights, basic freedoms and now is proven that should stay out of property and extensively tourism.

Now if we apply simple logic, if we just follow common sense, the same way the Cypriot, European and UK Appeal Courts did, we easily reach to the conclusion that all tourists, being those Cypriots or foreign, who visit the occupied by the Turkish troops land, should not use the occupied hotels since they are committing the same mistake Mr. and Mrs. Orams did.

Today, the legal owners of hotels are able to see who stays to those hotels searching the internet. We take as example the Dome Hotel in Kyrenia. The hotel belongs legally to Mr. Katsellis and his family. A simple search on Trip Advisor will give us a lot of information about who visited the hotel and when. Unfortunately those people have never been informed what it really means to be accommodated there. So as an advice, before you book a hotel in the occupied side of Cyprus, make sure your agent gives you all the information and please make a quick phone call to your lawyer of the ministry of foreign affairs of your country to make sure that what is suppose to be a relaxed holiday does not become a legal battle you will lose for sure. Once again what is right is right and no war or political interest can change it.