The smart guide to Northern Cyprus writen in stupid newspaper

They forgot to say that the land where the hotels they mention belongs to families that were violently displaced from their homes 35 years ago. They forget to mention that the EU and UK courts have many times dictated sentences against Turkey for not letting Greeks Cypriots to use their land, they forget to mention that in order to have hotels there we are today making the funerals of 3 small children assassinated by Turkish troops in cold blood in their baby beds and barrier in mass graves.

Read the article of our friend Mark Hodson and I am sure you would love to fly to “Ercan” and feel the warmth of the people there. He forgets that the people there are under military rule and that the people there are becoming people elsewhere since they leave “North Cyprus” due to military occupation by the troops they once beleived that they were ther to save them from the Greeks.

I understand that Mark has to make a living but he needs to be objective if he writes for the Sunday Times. He forgot to mention travel insurance from the EU does not cover the visitor there, he forgot to mention that the visitor is not allowed to take pictures in many areas, much more than you can think of since is military areas, he forgot to mention that the visitor takes risks and not even his embassy can help him.

Also the Sunday Times needs to be careful who writes what and how. Promoting illegality is similar to committing illegality. What is the difference between saying go to this shop where they sell stolen watches and buy a great Rolex for 30 pounds and go to “North Cyprus” and stay in this stolen hotel?

Read yourself the article here. Take your time

Traditional Travel Agent Services to challenge Online Airline Services

All of us who remember how we used to go to the Travel Agent of our town to buy a ticket should also remember the blue Sabre or Amadeus screen where the lady who worked there used to type in those complex codes. Well whatever this lady could do on her screen we can now do it from home. All, or almost all state owned (or ex state owned airlines – including Cyprus Airways) have now a web site where the passenger himself can make a booking, pay and even get his/her boarding pass.

So why do we need travel agents? This question was made to me during our event in Limassol last month. Travel agents who live on ticketing have little future? Will they disappear? My opinion is that they will not disappear, they will have to adapt.

I was in the office of my travel agent in Nicosia the other day and what impressed me more were the answers the ladies and gentlemen that work there could answer over the phone in a very natural and sure manner. Questions that not even Google can answer that quickly and that accurately.

They were just brilliant, … no sir no worries your flight is confirmed and the assistance for your mother is also confirmed. You will have someone to pick her up in Rome to help her in the airport. His phone is ….

So my advice is, if you are a travel agent, offer good personalised service!! If you are a frequent or not so frequent flyer pay those 30 Euros service charge so you get tranquillity when you fly, every cent is worth it. Now if you are an airline invest in your web since not all of us have the luxury to book a flight on working hours.

In my way of seeing things the challenge is for the Airlines, they need to offer excellent web services to compete with the professionalism of the travel agents and not vice versa.

Have a good flight

From Cyprus Airways to Cyprus Far-aways

Cyprus Airways made finally the big step. They confront the crisis by letting customers without flights!!! They have unilaterally and without any notice cancelled the only flight from Pafos Airport to Athens. What that is actually mean. It means that all the Cypriots who live in the area of Paphos including Limassol (more than 200,000) in order to fly to Athens need to go to Larnaca Airport. Larnaca Airport is small, old and 1h20min drive from Paphos and 1 hour from Limassol. Pafos Airport is only 30 mins drive from Limassol and 15 from any point in Pafos. Now, this means more expense on fuel for the passengers since they have to drive to Larnaca, more environmental impact and more uncomfortable situations form some hundreds of travellers and some hundreds of students. The flights to Paphos were always full. I have personally taken this flight 3 times in the past 6 months and members of my family approximately 10 times and it has always been more than 80%.

Well as from today Cyprus airways looks to me as Cyprus far-aways . They are monopoly, government owned and run, they are the main reason why other airlines do not land in Cyprus and all these makes them champions of Tourism Killers. The passengers from Greece increase and they decrease flights. So as a conclusion I ask Aegean Airlines to bid for Cyprus Far-aways, I ask Lufthansa Group to take over the airline and develop its potential since the local management are incapable to see opportunities and develop locally.

I suggest that we protect ourselves from this kind of companies that make life harder, economy worse and at the same time stop progress. Welcome Stelios … welcome easyjet … see here for more details, welcome freedom.

Cyprus Tourism Synergies

I must say that the 18th and the 19th of February have been the most intense days of my life after the birth of my twins.

I have had the privilege to share conference panel with the most distinguished e-Marketing specialists in the world. Dr. Natasa Christodoulides, Gerd Leonhard, Richard Sedley, Ged Carroll, Andrew Gordon, John Horsley, Theodore Koumelis and the statistics brain of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation Constantinos Chappas.

Thank you Natasha for your methodology and level of information, Gerd for your vision and charm of the masses , Richard for your persuasion and artistic vein, Andrew for your humour and your fantastic realistic approaches, Ged for your online “honesty”. Thank you Theodore for landing the Emergence2009 flight smoothly, John for making us see that networking is social, Constandinos for showing us the bright side of the crisis. Special thanks to my colleague Patrick for standing me for 3 weeks and for being the master mind of www.emergence2009.com , last but not least, thank you Alex for being there observing the event and later giving me your wisdom and vision of the market oportunities.

I would also like to thank the whole industry of Cyprus that without them this event would not have been possible. Thanks to all the travel agents, hoteliers, guides, technology companies, and all the rest who understood that the world is now googleable and that facebooking brings real people close.

Hasta la vista …

Let's go to Cyprus for Holidays

The annual conference of the Cyprus Hotel Association was this year really interesting.

We had the opportunity to hear how Thomas Cook and Thomson Holidays - TUI Group asked publicly the hoteliers of Cyprus to lower their prices even more so those two companies would be able to help the Cypriot Hotelier. Well I think is time to see reality. Thomas Cook and TUI Group are profitable organisations who are asking us to lose money so they make money because they drive tourist traffic in Cyprus. My question is do we really need them?

I ask the hoteliers to wake up and see that their hotels in Cyprus the only thing they need is to forget about the intermediates and go for the end user alone. This can only be achieved on-line. There are more than 20,000,000 (twenty million) travellers that plan their travel online every week. How much would the Cyprus Tourism Organisation would pay to have a slice of this pie? How much would the hotels invest to have their finger in this honey pot?

With this opportunity I would like to thank Dr. Dimitry Shevchenko for his clear vision and his real support to Cyprus as destination, also I would like to ask Mr. Jez Clarke to be more honest to the hoteliers (According to this customer Thomoson Holidays is selling excursions to "North Cyprus",) as well as Mr. Len Mina to look back and see the history and learn from it. Thomas Cook is recommednding the undiscovered noth of Cyprus.

Both tour operators thanked the Cyprus Tourism Organisation for the support in their marketing campaigns to bring tourist to Cyprus. This support I assume is not moral but monetary.

Last but not least, I would like to ask for our politicians to care more and care with real care for the industry and not use the name of the Cyprus Tourism industry to gain local impressions.

Thanks for your time and I really appreciate your loyalty reading this blog.

Emergence2009

The Cyprus Tourism Organization's commitment to its strategic objectives remains resilient despite pressing short-term needs. As a key initiative, hosting EMERGENCE 2009, is yet another contribution in the support of effective e-marketing and digital connectivity for the Tourism industry.

Providing the Tourism Sector of Cyprus with perspectives on how to overcome the current economic situation is the single most important task that the Cyprus Tourism Organization has proposed upon itself so as to enhance competitive capabilities of the local tourism industry with the launch of the upcoming E-Tourism Forum.

Managing digital, widens the scope of opportunities and it remains today as the single most important source of leverage for destinations and travel businesses. The mandate for Avantless in creating the eTourism Forum as a facilitator event with international speakers will definitely result in bridging the digital gap in the business of travel.

• Discovering genuine strategies that work more for businesses,
• Sustaining customer satisfaction in anticipation of market needs and dynamics,
• Managing conversations and online presence effectively

These are all part of formulas to navigate with success the emerging digital scape and a unique opportunity to allow for the sector to be empowered about braving the New Year with clear individual action paths that will bear also collective benefits.

The event EMERGENCE 2009 is to be celebrated in Limassol, Cyprus on the 18th and 19th of February, 2009 at the Grand Resort Hotel in attendance of the greater part of the national tourism sector.

For complete information, go to www.emergence2009.com


EMERGENCE 2009 is hosted by The Cyprus Tourism Organization and promoted by Avantless Ltd.