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.

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.