Time sharing in Cyprus - From time Sharing to Profit Sharing in Cyprus Tourism - A curse or a blessing?

A “war” against time sharing has started the last few days by the Municipalities and the Tourism professionals. It is a fact that this issue is becoming a “threat” for the tourists who, as they get away from the “All Inclusive Packages”, run into the sales people of the time sharing.

I really do not understand why in Cyprus we “hide behind our finger”. Isn’t it obvious that those selling time sharing are working for eponymous Cypriot businessmen? Maybe they are not on their payroll system but they serve their interests indirectly. Time sharing is a networking, a phenomenon well spread in holiday areas and Cyprus is not an exception to the rule. Cypriot businessmen have made deals with time sharing suppliers and have entered this network. This is neither illegal nor immoral. But the so called time sharing “sales people” in Cyprus may sell buildings in Egypt in the same network. This is what confuses the Authorities and they do not understand that the network is made in a certain way so as to sell anywhere and everybody is benefited.

Time sharing is a widespread method of selling holiday accommodation and first started from the USA and was spread all over the world. Countries like Aruba, Bermuda, USA, Latin America and many more have accepted it and gave the institution a legal coverage. The most well know time sharing company in the world is Marriott (www.marriott-vacations.com) with more than 50 locations from USA, Spain, France, Aruba, Thailand etc. Another company is the world known Starwood (www.starwoodvacationownership.com) with again many locations.

There is of course the opposite side of time sharing. During the 1990’s in the region of Malaga in South Spain (Torremolinos, Benalmadena etc) English and Belgians with guileful ways have taken millions from tourists in order to sell them time sharing in projects under construction. In this trap some Spanish land developers participated since they believed that their “collaborators” had their customers ready and since they took an advanced deposit started to build. The problem arose when the English and Belgians “collaborators” took 80% of the money and disappeared leaving the Spanish developers exposed. In this story many Cypriots, staying in England lost their money since they invested in the project.

In Cyprus since ownership is allowed time sharing found its way of spreading out quickly. The “sales people” do not even have the basic knowledge of how to sell. They become extremely pushy and try to sell by giving out free accommodations etc. Those sales people work without any contract and undertake the risk of getting arrested by the police and pay the fine. They work only on commission basis and therefore nobody can figure out their relationship with Cypriot enterprises and businessmen. In reality what is happening is in everybody’s knowledge. The end result, sales, is at the benefit of the businessmen and this is what everybody is not telling whey they speak publicly.

The names of the companies dealing with time sharing can be found easily on the internet and you can find those at www.vpresales.com, www.rci-timeshare.com, www.sellmytimesharenow.com, and many more. There you will find out which Cypriot companies are involved in this type of business. I would say that in order to solve the problem, we should look into the Board of Directors of many companies and find out the people who brought this to Cyprus. The issue which remains is whether those people who speak publicly are in reality willing to solve the problem.

If we get deeper into the issue, we will see many interesting things. Just ask Google for “Pafos time sharing” and in two seconds will give you its results. Have a look and make your own conclusions.

The question is whether Time Sharing is good for tourism and the economy of Cyprus. Well, if it is well organised, legal and institutionalized in a way that each ones role is clearly defined, and if the so called “sales people” stop bothering then yes it is good because at the end new tourists will come on the island with tourism consciousness since they will be owners as well. If though, the “sales people” continue to act in a fraudulent and pressing way and if the Cypriots selling the time sharing do not undertake the responsibility to clear out the situation, then this will be another factor of the tourism crisis Cyprus will have to face.

The internet is full of complaints about Cyprus; complaints and discussions take place in social media and forums. Many angry tourists complain about the “harassment” they get into. If this continues without taking any serious steps then the consequences will be destructive for the reputation of Cyprus as a tourist destination.

Paphos International Airport - (PFO) – A great Experience

In the eighties Pafos was written on the international airport map with its PFO airport. Then the society in Cyprus was divided. Was Paphos was big enough to host an international airport? The area was basically abandoned by the Cypriot State since the connection between Limassol (Lemesos) and Pafos was made by a narrow curvy and dangerous road and there was indication that the high way was soon to be built. Today after 20 years, Pafos has the highway and Pafos – Limassol is just 30 minutes drive. In November 2008 the new Pafos International Airport was inaugurated. Today I had the opportunity to fly to Thessaloniki (Makedonia Airport) from Pafos.

I invite all of you who want to travel from Cyprus and to Cyprus to choose Paphos Airport (PFO). The building is full of natural light, the decoration is smooth, the walls are decorated by works of art from local artists, the character of the place is modern and is has nothing to envy any modern European Airport, its size is just ideal for the area, human and friendly atmosphere that inspire you security and comfort.

Finally Pafos left behind its 20 years of bad airport history, finally we have an airport we, the citizens of the area and all the Cypriots, deserve. Thank you Hermes Airports for the effort and please keep the quality high, now is time to work to get more flights and boost tourism and business travellers to Pafos.

Subsidise tourism in the European Union for the benefit of the small and medium tourist enterprise instead of the big tour operators and whole sellers

The crisis is not anymore a ghost, it is a reality especially for the small and medium tourist entrepreneur, Cyprus is defiantly not the exemption, despite that the minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Mr. Antonis Paschalides was assuring the Hoteliers and Travel industry that we would only have a 10% decrease the reality is completely different. The best numbers talk about a 20% decrease in occupancies and the worst numbers talk about 30%.

What that is all mean? It mainly means that the big tour operators are not fulfilling their compromise with the industry. The tour operators that last winter were asking for help and took from the industry subsidies of some million Euros are now not fulfilling their compromises. The crisis excuse is simply perfect, easy to pronounce and very easy to demonstrate that the crisis is responsible. Now , if someone digs a bit deeper you find out that things are not that easy, and let me bullet point my thoughts.

1. Big tour operators support the destinations in the Mediterranean that are outside the Euro zone since their currencies are not subject to euro ? dollar relationship and therefore are at least 35% cheaper in airport taxes and ground tourist services such as transfers and accommodation.

2. The money they use to push those destinations is the money they got from the bleeding destinations like Cyprus, who did not have other alternative than subsidizing arrivals. Conclusion, the rich European destinations subsidise through the private sector the development of tourism to their direct competitors.

3. The EU rules put barriers to direct subsidies but not in Turkey or Egypt. Over there things are done according to ?market rules?. Therefore the big guys have more manoeuvre space and can with not much trouble pull the strings to the suppliers for lower prices.

4. Low cost airlines are not interested in covering long hall flights from central and northern Europe . The costs are far too high and they cannot enter in the subsidy dance since most of them do not work with package deals. This keeps the Tour Operators alive in the aviation map since the destinations consider them indispensable for bringing in mass tourism even thought low cost airlines transport many more passengers than charter flights.

Suggestions:
1. Independent hoteliers and small hotel chains that do not have corporate liaisons with tour operators could create a new business model that would fit the Low Cost airline model and make a pressure group in the market place.
2. The state instead of subsidizing tour operators could use that money to reduce the airport taxes, increase online presence in an effective manner towards the direct user.
3. Incentivize the tour operators with indirect incentives such as tax reductions, VAT exemptions that have impact on their profit and loss account and not on their cash flow, like this they keep the pulse of sales but without using direct cash benefits.

Online reservations in 14 laguages with Social Media facility

Sybelio, the non commissionable online booking system built in Spain has the capability to publish content on Social Media. The hotel can create its Special Offers and let its followers know instantly on all Social Media. Sybelio can know boost direst sales of hotels, hotel chains, incoming agents and any other accommodation facilities your company may have.

Sybelio online booking system

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The University of Seville - Spain introduces Sybelio Online Booking System in its Curricular for Master and Degree Students in Hospitality

The University of Seville and Sybelio Online sign a collaboration agreement for
the tourism degree.

The University of Seville and Sybelio have signed a collaboration agreement so that students of tourism learn and put into practice on line commerce using Sybelio, one of the most comprehensive online booking engines that exist in the tourism market and the use of which, completely configurable, is open to hotels, tour operators and travel agencies.

Online sales, the importance of which has grown in the last few years, have nowadays become a subject that is studied at universities.

The University of Seville has recently offered a specific module on new information technologies applied to on line sales with no middlemen, directly from the web pages of the tourist establishments. This module has been taught in the Tourism Degree, in the Hotel Management Master Degree and in the training course on Management and Marketing of Tourist Establishments. Over the last month, 450 students have taken the above mentioned courses and have used Sybelio online booking engine for that purpose. Sybelio has become a basic tool in order to design, program and execute tourist sales through the Internet.

With this agreement Sybelio wants to contribute in the curricular of the University so as the new directors of hotels and tourism companies in Spain become familiar with online tools in order to boost the use of online in their daily job in a very normal and natural manner. From the other hand site Sybelio will be permanently becoming even a better tool due to the input the company will receive from the university students.

The Role of the Tour Operators in the new era of Tourism where internet is getting stronger

Many of us who defend the disintermediation of tourism and that the traditional tour operators had no place in the tourism market as intermediates, it is now proven that we are wrong. We are wrong since customers need a Big Guy to place their complaints. Here are some examples of REAL customer complaints. This was sent from a Major UK Tour Operator - listing some of the British guests' complaints during the year 2008.

"I think it should be explained in the brochure that the local store does not sell proper biscuits like custard creams or ginger nuts."

"It's lazy of the local shopkeepers to close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time - this should be banned."

"On my holiday to Goa in India , I was disgusted to find that almost every restaurant served curry. I don't like spicy food at all."

"We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our swimming costumes and towels."

A tourist at a top African game lodge overlooking a waterhole, who spotted a visibly aroused elephant, complained that the sight of this rampant beast ruined his honeymoon by making him feel "inadequate".

A woman threatened to call police after claiming that she'd been locked in by staff. When in fact, she had mistaken the "do not disturb" sign on the back of the door as a warning to remain in the room.

"The beach was too sandy."

"We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as yellow but it was white."

A guest at a Novotel in Australia complained his soup was too thick and strong. He was inadvertently slurping the gravy at the time.

"Topless sunbathing on the beach should be banned. The holiday was ruined as my husband spent all day looking at other women."

"We bought 'Ray-Ban' sunglasses for five Euros (£3.50) from a streettrader, only to find out they were fake."

"No-one told us there would be fish in the sea. The children were startled."

"It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England, it only took the Americans three hours to get home."

"I compared the size of our one-bedroom apartment to our friends' three-bedroom apartment and ours was significantly smaller."

"The brochure stated: 'No hairdressers at the accommodation'. We're trainee hairdressers - will we be OK staying here?"

"There are too many Spanish people. The receptionist speaks Spanish. The food is Spanish. Too many foreigners."

"We had to queue outside with no air conditioning."

"It is your duty as a tour operator to advise us of noisy or unruly guests before we travel."

"I was bitten by a mosquito - no-one said they could bite."

"My fiancé and I booked a twin-bedded room, but we were placed in a double-bedded room. We now hold you responsible for the fact that I find myself pregnant. This would not have happened if you had put us in the room that we booked."

I hope you enjoyed the quotes. This post has as objective to amuse the readers as well as show in a funny way that Tourism needs all of us since our customers' needs vary so much.