How could Cyprus Hotels could take advantage of OTAs ( Online Travel Agents)

Viewing today the video on VTV Channel with the interview of Dr. Chris Anderson from Cornell University , I have realised that many of the indications he mentions could be applied to Cyprus as well.

Of course we need to have in mind that the so called dot com brands in Cyprus do not really exist. Cyprus tourism industry is formed mainly by independent hotels that do not belong to international chains. Now this happens it will be our subject for an other post on this blog.

Coming back to Dr. Anderson’s recommendations. Cyprus tourism has been traditionally depending on Travel Agents and Tour Operators. The online revolution is still making its way to Cyprus mainly because of the denial of the Cypriot tourism professional to change his/her marketing habits. In this path of unchanged change the recommendations of Dr. Anderson could fit and be more understandable for the average Cypriot hotelier.

The problem here is that the local travel agent, incoming agent is still wondering what to do online, he is still using old booking engines with no flexibility and without any benefit to the end user. We will not talk about the complete absence of any type of Social Media strategy. So first of all the local incoming agents need to understand how web and especially web 2.0 works and how an offline Travel Agent can become a successful online agent. Here is essential the participation of all the actors like Tour guides, theme park owners, excursion makers and yes the strong support from the local tourist authorities who can bring in tangible travel content.

Anyway pay attention to the video and make your own conclusions and if you are a Cypriot travel agent or a Cypriot hotelier I am sure you will find things here that are applicable to your daily work. In Cyprus we have at this moment a huge gap that is filled by the big players from the UK. So think and act.

Travel Freely !!! Greek and Cyprus tourism at your reach.

Whatever TV station you have on, whatever radio station you listen, whatever digital or paper newspaper you read, the news are the same. “Greece is in deep financial problems and this is due to the Greeks, the Greek way of thinking, the Greeks lied to the EU and so on and so forth”.

I am sorry Ladies and Gentlemen, but not all the Greeks are the same. Once, with a friend from Turkey at the World Travel Market in London some years ago, we were talking about how similar are Greeks and Turks. Similar when it comes to culture, food, family links etc. Ahmed though, mentioned an important difference that stayed in my memory. “The difference between Greeks and Turks is that we, Turks are have 2,000 very intelligent people who govern our country but you Greeks have 2000 idiots who govern your country despite that the percentage of university graduates is much higher in Greece than in Turkey and this should be a sign of a more educated and cultivated civic society, but still you elect incapable people to run your country” .

Well my friend Ahmed you were very right, those 2000 idiots are now the ones mainly responsible for the bankruptcy of Greece. For those idiots we cannot blame the rest of the people in Greece. Greeks now understood that the only way to save their country and consequently save the Euro and the Euro-zone is by being more productive. Despite that I am not a Greek citizen, but a Cypriot, I must admit that this comment of my good friend Ahmed made me see the Cypriot political reality from a more pragmatic point of view and since I decided not to vote anyone in any elections.
Greece and Cyprus are two connected economies and even more connected societies, and what happens today in Greece may never happen in Cyprus but it is shaking our economy here as well, and the shake is high on the Richter scale.

Greece and Cyprus have an extraordinary natural resource; Tourism. Greece and Cyprus are maybe not unique when it comes to mass tourism and travel, but defiantly both countries have many things to enjoy, discover and feel. Greek and Cypriot people are very hospitable and the Tourism Professionals in both countries have a great experience in taking care of their customers. The financial tsunami that is today swiping the Greek Economy but mostly the Greek society should stop immediately in order not to swipe the Cypriot economy and society and probably put in great danger the social and financial stability of many Europeans outside the borders of Greece and Cyprus.

In my opinion, the only feasible and “non-violent” way to stop this tsunami is if the Greek and Cypriot people have genuine and honest support from the rest of Europeans, especially from the inhabitants of countries with great recovery capacity such as Germany, UK, Holland etc.
Therefore I would kindly ask you all who read this article to consider Greece and Cyprus as your next vacation destination. I would even suggest you to combine the two places. Live your Myth in Greece and Feel Cyprus this Summer, like this you are contributing to the European Economy and European Social Stability.

Last but not least, I promise to all my fellow European citizens that I will do my best to keep the idiots out of power. By the way I would like to clarify that the word idiot is used in this article in the context the Athenians used to use it during the golden era of Athenian Democracy (http://budurl.com/GreekIdiots)

Not paralyzed by the Icelandic volcano

Visit Cyprus this summer will be the choice of many Europeans. Amongst them the Spanish or other nationalities that leave in Spain. The campaigns in the Spanish football pitches and especially at those games that will define the Spanish Liga have managed to create awareness about the Cyprus.

If you live in Spain and you would like to discover the other end of the Mediterranean it is highly recommendable to use as a stopover, Athens,  the Greek capital since the alternative of Turkish airlines does not take you to the free part of the island. If you travel from Spain to Cyprus make sure you land in Larnaca (LCA) or Paphos (PFO) airports, witch are the two legal airports of the country and be sure the route is not paralyzed by the Icelandic volcano.

Visit Cyprus this summer - Make your first Tackle to Mass Tourism from cyprustourism on Vimeo.

Times have changed for Cyprus Tourism

The poll for Cyprus Tourism has closed. My opinion was different but it seems that there are some optimists. The result is absolutely clear,  61% of the votes remark that current Tourism strategy is not being well graded, overwhelmingly   I would say 5 to 1. Feel free to comment, the results are here below.  The survey was conducted online with IP filter.


Feel free to comment 

How hotels can get out of The Crisis!!

Can hotels get out of the crisis? Well this crisis is not only about hotels its about all tourism. The reality is very hard for those millions of unemployed people of tourism worldwide. Well we cannot get out of crisis if we continue firing 50% of our human assets; we cannot get out of crisis if we keep reducing the only recourse that makes our industry o be personal.

If hotels do not stop firing people then they will end being cheaper to stay than home. The problem will be when hotels will want to raise prices again after in 2011 or 2012 or 2015 when the crisis will be over. Hoteliers will beg repeat customers not to come back, the pressure of guests will be so big that many hoteliers will change work. Come on lets get a bit serious now.
If you are a serious hotelier then what you should do is.

1. Do not fire 50% of your staff so you make sure your quality is still high and your services are up to your guest’s standards.
2. Do not lower your prices. Do not touch your room rate. Please do not panic. This crisis is an earthquake, and during an earthquake the ones who survive are the ones who know how to react with calm.
3. Give more value to your guests’ money by offering more services for less money.
  a. Include the bloody wifi internet connection to your rate.
  b. Make breakfast hours longer.
  c. Offer 3 types of eggs on the breakfast buffet.
  d. Change that plastic taste orange colour liquid with real orange juice.
  e. Offer room service WITHOUT extra charge.
  f. Make your restaurant food unique so as your guest will think of you first when going out for dinner .
  g. Let your guest invite a friend or 2 for breakfast without charging extra.

There are so many things you can do before putting your “pants” down but actually the first thing you have to is to come closer to your customer. Turn your customer to your guest and this today is possible if you are able to use the vast social media sphere in a non abusive and guest friendly manner. Get in your guest’s shoes and see your hotel from through your guest’s eyes online. Use the Online Marketing tools wisely to market your hotel.

Disintermediate your sales process as much as you can and use those agents and tour operators that transfer price and value benefits directly to the end user.

Use your imagination and creativity and your hotel will come out of crisis stronger and you will be wiser at the end.

Hey do not take me wrong. Many of the ideas above are not only mine. The President of the International Hotel and Restaurant Association Dr. Ghassan AIDI shares many of those ideas as well, he shared them with Cypriot Hoteliers at the Cyprus Hotel Association 2010 Congress.

How does the Aegean–Olympic merge affect Cyprus Tourism?

Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air are very close signing an agreement that will create the new Greek airline. The 2 companies will very soon announce their merge and the new airline will be called Olympic. The new company will have a structure where the 2 strong men of the two companies will have equal shares, Vasilakis  from Aegean and Vgenopoulos from  Olympic Air (Marfin Group) and the rest of the shares will be in the Greek stock market. The new entity will be owned by Aegean Air by 75% and 25% by Marfin . (News published on Inbusiness news online in Greek)

Now the question drawn from this piece of news is.  When are they going to buy Cyprus Airways,  Eurocypria of both? The bad financial situation of the two Cypriot Airlines should worry the Cypriot Tax payer. The airlines that lately had a media fight about who should close down, are completely sustained by state investment. The state of Cyprus owns 100% of the regular airline (Cyprus Airways) and 100% of the charter airline, Eurocypria. The minister of finance of Cyprus has played his last card for Eurocypria last week at the parliament where he obtained 35 million Euros to inject them in the empty cash drawers of Eurocypria.
Most economists of Cyprus believe that the 2 airlines are not sustainable due to their very high operational costs produced basically by the “heritage” of civil servant employees and the lack of modernization of internal procedures in order to have more flexibility and productivity.

Now with the airports of Cyprus being managed by the private sector the 2 airlines do not have the favours they user to have before (especially before 2004) something that finds them “exposed” to the open global market. If the new Greek airline giant wants to keep the piece of the pie in the Cypriot routes then the option of buying the 2 companies is not a bad one.

We will be waiting to see what the next move is. Vgenopoulos has the expertise in buying Cypriot companies and I am sure he knows the potential of Cyprus as a hub in the eastern Mediterranean.

From this blog I predict that next year the same day we will be talking  about one global Greek and Cypriot air carrier and is then when we will be able to fly to Cyprus with better connections and definitely better prices.