Minister of Finance of Cyprus foresees closing of Cyprus airways. Hahaha he is a prophet...!!

Οnce upon a time there was a small country in the Mediterranean called republic of Cyprus. This country thought that it was the superpower and therefore created two huge airlines to fly its corrupteted politicians and their followers for holidays, business and pleasure. Well then the dream went down the drain; suddenly the global financial crisis uncovered the corruption. Left, right, centre and whatever other politicians jump out of the airplanes to blame each other. Well Cypriots are not stupid, we all know that the boards of directors of Cyprus Airways were gaining votes and favour by putting people to work in the airline. We all know that they were involved in commissions even for purchasing peanuts, we all know that the airlines (Eurocypria and Cyprus Airways) were another stage for some politicians to get the lights on them.

Yesterday the new board of directors presented the salvation plan to the parliament with the presence of the Minister of Finance who said that the 20 million needed to be paid immediately do not really guarantee the feasibility of the airline. We have someone to blame, Turkey is the one to blame, Turkey breaking all the rules and all the norms of the EU does not let Cypriot planes fly over its airspace and obliges the pilots to fly around it and spend more time and fuel to reach the destinations (especially the ones in the ex Soviet Union). My question is simple. Did we know that ? We did, it is happening since 1974. Now, instead of having a strict unmovable business plan that included this risk we had an airline that knew very well how to spend. Trips and traps were organised, fam trips and trips for fun were made. Salaries that were paid to people who had less productivity than a carrot, salaries paid  to directors who were managing by not walking around. Now we are called as citizens to pay from our pockets all these corruption. Well I will not, they can come and arrest me.

Next May 2011 we will be called to vote for the parliament, well again I will not go and I hope that more will follow.

Experience Grand Resort Limassol

We are in Limassol having a great training seminar with the middle management team of one of the most important 5 star hotels of the town and of Cyprus.

The Grand Resort Limassol, formerly known as Hawaii Grand Resort is at this moment closed for minor refurbishment. The ownership and the management of the hotel decided to sign up the staff of the hotel to the Training program supplied by the Higher Hotel Institute of Cyprus, a training program sponsored by the EU Cohesion Fund and the republic of Cyprus.

Today, we are dealing with Marketing and Online Marketing trends.

I would like to thank Marios (HR Manager), Kiki (Executive Housekeeper), Pavlos (Frond Office Manager), Aristos ( Reservations Manager) and Antonis (Purchasing Manager).

The experience for me as trainer is simply fantastic, thank you all for your active participation.
(Thank you http://www.flickr.com/photos/renaissancechambara/ for the picture)

Happy 2011 for all of us, especially for those who with very little can achieve a lot !!

2010 has been a hard year for many people and businesses. Many of the people that would normally would get this message are without a job. Many work under very tough financial conditions, others are struggling to keep their business above the “sea level”. 

Avantless this year will not send any paper post cards and will give no giveaways and instead we have created a team in KIVA, a team where we suggest you join. KIVA is an online platform for Micro – Credits. We do not ask you to donate anything, we ask you to lend 25 Dollars to small entrepreneurs in countries that are under development. 25 dollars for a businesswoman in Guatemala or in Palestine have the value of 10,000 Dollars in a develpped country. 

We have been working with KIVA for 3 years now and all the money we have lent out has been paid back 100%.

In Avantless we believe that:
• People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way. 
• The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity and everybody deserves an opportunity. 
• By connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another. 
• The online world facilitates those connections and creates REAL links with people despite their race, color, financial situation or other barrier the offline world puts. 

Kiva promotes: 
• Dignity: Kiva encourages partnership relationships as opposed to benefactor relationships. Partnership relationships are characterized by mutual dignity and respect and Avantless supports actively KIVA’s work by suggesting you to support this initiative. 
• Accountability: Loans encourage more accountability than donations where repayment is not expected. It is a give and take relationship therefore both sides get a greater satisfaction. 
• Transparency: The Kiva website is an open platform where communication can flow freely around the world. In Avantless we give huge importance in transparency and we urge you to join us. 

Join us on Avantless Team in KIVA and lets help those who need so little to make so much. 

Happy Holidays to all. 

Regards 

Petros Mavros
Avantless

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.

Bookcyprus.com and Aeolos Travel in Cyprus get a good understanding of Social Media in Travel

Some time last week the phone rang and the Marketing Manager of the leading travel portal in Cyprus was on the other side of the cable. Andreas Lazarou from Aeolos travel, owners of www.bookcyprus.com has asked me if I could give a seminar to the team of Aeolos and Bookcyprus in Protaras over the weekend.

I have gladly accepted the challenge, but I could never think that that weekend would have been such an experience. Talking to people involved in online travel sales was for me a fantastic experience. I am a trainer for the last 10 years now and dealing with online travel training for almost 3 years. The team was simply fantastic. The mixture of “onliners” and “offliners” in the room gave the perfect mixture to achieve attention and challenging questions that I enjoyed very much.

I really hope that the audience has enjoyed the seminar as much as I did. Of course the scenery was perfect. The “extreme” hospitality of Sotos Stephanou, Managing Director of Aeolos, and the relaxed luxury of Cabo Bay Hotel came to close the circle of a perfect professional weekend.

Special thanks to Ian Hay for sharing the picture above from his Blackberry on his TwitPic.

Thank you Aeolos and Bookcyprus.com

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