For the Love of Paphos - by NAN MACKENZIE

I would like to thank the Cyprus Mail for this fantastic experience to share my views and ideas. Of course without Nan Mackenzie this interview would have been boring. It is great to share thoughts with a journalist who gets to the depth of your brain. Again thanks Nan for standing me for so many hours.

 A dedicated group of volunteers is determined to make Paphos’ declaration as European Capital of Culture 2017 a success. NAN MACKENZIE meets one of their key members Few people have the talent to really engage with people, to spur them on and to both educate and entertain. Petros Mavros is such a man, and he comes across as having exhausting nervous energy that fairly snaps, crackles and pops in the air around him. He is a genuine polymath, a believer in the teachings of 14th century Italian humanist Leon Battista Albertione, architect, poet, linguist, author, lawyer and mathematician, who subscribes to the view that “a man can do all things if he will”.

One area of passion for Mavros is what he calls the most human of industries, which makes it such an important national resource, where people grow with knowledge and training, and are then able to offer a truly positive customer experience. He is describing the human face of the Cyprus tourism industry, and after watching him in action during one of his company training courses it is clear that here is someone who could easily take apart an old Skoda, surround himself with all the greasy bits, and then put it back together as an XR3i.

 Petros moved with his Spanish-born wife and family to work in the Spanish hotel business. Returning to his hometown of Paphos, he now runs his own company mixing training in the hospitality sector with work as a consultant and a web master. And, like the ‘shark’, he has to keep moving forwards, constantly trying out new systems, thriving on mental challenges, testing out the validity of what he calls his “light bulb moments”. 

When asked if he could pick any time in history to be born which period would he choose? “Now. I truly love this time, no question about it, it’s an exciting period in history with the tectonic plates of technology moving so fast we will be seeing mammoth changes in the way businesses will be run in the future and how our lives will be changed. That’s coming from one who was born at a time when if you wanted to make a phone call you had to be indoors. We now have the opportunity to change things for the better but to never ever forget that at the same time, life can only really be defined in the present tense”.

Talking about changing things for the better, Petros is a key member of the team of volunteers behind the successful bid that saw Paphos named as European Capital of Culture for 2017. The volunteers – who all work on an equal footing – were responsible for putting together the successful bid. They are still very much involved in what will be staged in the town during the celebrations and changes that will need to be made in order to host it. So how does Petros see his beloved Paphos rising to the challenge of 2017? “Hope that the powers that be will come to recognise both the enormity of the challenge and the positive long-term effects this title can have not only on Paphos and its people, but Cyprus as a whole will stand to benefit. “We have an enormous opportunity here to provide a legacy for our children and our children’s children, and it cannot ever be construed as a big, one-year party that fades away after 12 months so no-one can remember it come April 2018.

Another great thing that has happened is the emergence of our band of volunteers - these are men and women who live and work in Paphos and are genuinely passionate about their town and its long-term future with the title of European Capital of Culture. Without the unstinting contributions given by our volunteers we would not have won the title, they gave up their time and worked unpaid in order to ensure the title will indeed serve as a catalyst for the cultural development and the transformation of the city. It’s their enthusiasm and commitment which we have to build on now to have an excellent, well thought out outline programme. We will as a team be able to showcase Paphos and so lay down solid foundations to build on for the future.”

When Melina Mercouri in 1983 conceived and proposed the programme of the European Capital of Culture she and the French Cultural minister Jack Lang strongly advocated that direct political involvement should not be present within the core management of any cultural capital organisation and this was endorsed within the European Union, which each year designates a city to hold the title. But how is Paphos handling this limiting of political power? “The ‘bid book’ - the bible of action to be taken - also confirms this very important point that political dominance was not in the interest of the project. Experiences within other cultural capitals have shown that a board heavily weighted on the political side invariably ends up being hijacked by political interest at the expense of cultural interests, and it then becomes a battleground for conflicting political interest, priorities and egos. “If the politicians ruled the roost, so to speak, with 2017 then we would surely be placed in a situation whereby we have a group of blind men trying to describe an elephant. One will hold the trunk and say it’s a snake; another will grip a leg and say it’s a tree; another will stroke the ear and say it’s a banana plant. They will all say different things because they cannot ever see the whole thing.”

Obviously a man capable of inspiring others, I have to assume that Petros is a born leader. Once 2017 has passed, would this lead to the natural development of seeing him run for a political post? “Every morning I join a group of friends and regardless of the weather, we go for an early morning swim in the sea. I often lie on my back and float for a time, trying to clear my mind of any stress. Sometimes I close my eyes and dream that one day gravity will cease to exist and I will just float upwards adrift over Paphos and be slowly carried by gusts of wind out to sea. When I look down from the clouds I always see the politicians who despite the loss of gravity are the ones who still cannot gain any lift”. That’s a no then.

 He is more interested in working with those in the hotel industry, giving value to people working at all levels – which is what he does when not concerning himself with the Paphos of 2017. “If our tourism business is a pyramid then the base has to be rooted in the experience enjoyed by the customer, chambermaids are, after all, the people who change your sheets and clean up after you. Of course they first walk into the training room and wonder why the hell they are there, being faced by a big fat hairy man spouting on about tourism marketing when all they can think about is how many rooms they still have to clean. But after a time they begin to realise how important they really are to the overall running of the hotel. Their work is probably the first indication a customer gets on how caring and professional an establishment really is. “My belief is that tourism is a natural resource that needs to be managed as such, with people growing with knowledge, and that knowledge being transmitted into training which not only assures working skills but most importantly human skills. It’s not important if a waiter serves wine from the right or left, what matters is the ability to transmit enthusiasm and knowledge when serving the wine, otherwise all wines will taste the same to the customer. With this philosophy front and centre within the tourism industry we can hopefully recover some of our lost ground and grow with a bit more confidence and knowledge and so assure jobs and income for people in the long term.” And driving our tourism industry forward requires the big bosses appreciating the human force and harnessing it for the power of good. “It’s important for them to understand that people have personal power or they have positional power. Positional power means I have power over you because I am the chief executive and you should fear me because of who I am. And then there’s personal power, which is what’s inside all of us, and believe me the dishwasher in a restaurant or hotel can have more personal power than someone who is a manager because they have that innate quality. In other words, being a manager doesn’t equal being a leader, what does, is in the way you treat people and how you lead, and that is part of what I subscribe to”.

 Petros comes across as a thoroughly nice guy and this too is something he underlines in his training. “Being nice is important in any job, it’s not a soft unfashionable word it’s an important one, as being ‘nice’ is as important as having passion for your job. None of us want to work for people who aren’t nice, that’s not being selfish that’s just an absolute essential in the service and hospitality business. Life is just too short to be dealing with people who aren’t ‘nice’. Give me someone who is nice and who is passionate and I can teach them everything else”. Now in his 40th year, Petros graduated in hotel management from the renowned Swiss Hotel Association Hotel Management School Les Roches, before going on to work in Europe. He is a fine writer; and as a cook lays claim to making the best paella this side of Barcelona; he relishes good wine; is fluent in English, Spanish, German and French, also speaking Catalan as well as native Greek. Married to a Spanish teacher he is father to teenage twins (boy and girl) and the family live in a multilingual multicultural home in Paphos but, he does however admit to being a somewhat difficult man to be married to. “I am a bit self absorbed, impulsive and I do like to have my own way and my work sometimes is put above my family, but I am fortunate in that my wife really does understand me and she supports me but, what I really do badly at is saying no to things”.

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.

Cuprus Tourism got lucky according to ex Finance Minister

The ex minister of Finance of Cyprus, Mr. Michael Sarris has mentioned that our economy was un-sustainable for many years. "Even in Tourism that it is our main production,we got lucky since we had the Russian market spending without looking much".

During his short speech at the Neapolis University of Pafos Mr. Sarris clarified that Cyprus has been living on debt than on production. This according to Mr. Sarris is very dangerous and it can only lead to crisis and this is were it led us.

This blog has been talking about sustainability and balance in Tourism in order to make the destination competitive. Tourism competitiveness is not only the price of the travel package but also the the sustainability and feasibility of the Travel Sector in a broader sense.

Privatization or Cyprus Airways is now a desire that cannot be fulfilled, this could be the beginning of a new era in the travel sector in Cyprus, but unfortunately Cyprus airways and the related to it services and companies are closing down or becoming another black hole for the Cypriot tax payer.

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.

London 2012 Olympic Games Spirit

Tonight many millions of people will watch the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Tonight, once again the Olympic spirit will enter the houses of people from Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Ecuador, Spain, Italy, UK, the USA, Mexico, Burundi or Germany.

From this blog I would like to ask all of you to listen carefully the Hymn of the Olympic Games. Probably the only music composition in the world that unites under one tune so many nationalities for a common cause. Spyridon Samaras the composer and Kostis Palamas lyrics two universal Greeks wrote the Olympic Hymn thinking that this music will set one solid foundation for international peace and cooperation.

This blog is not political, this blog is critical with many things that happen in Greece and Cyprus. But today Tourism is All of Us declares Olympic Truce and invites all of us to do the same.

Last but not least. I invite all who cannot be in an Olympic Stadium to watch the games to come to the motherland of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Spirit, come to Greece, and watch the Games relaxing on an OlympicBeach. Enjoy !!

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’.