By Charlie Charalambous
CYPRUS is already outperforming its competitors as a Summer destination for British tourists, with bookings 60 per cent up and an extra 100,000 expected to arrive this year.
This was the optimistic message given by UK tour specialists and the Cyprus Tourism Organisation at a seminar in Limassol yesterday.
The seminar was organised by the Association of Greek Cypriot Travel Agents (UK) and local hoteliers in order to thrash out a common strategy which could sustain tourism from Britain.
Although the seminar covered all the normal gripes of needing to improve infrastructure, upgrade the product and keep down labour costs, there was a feeling of optimism about the future.
“With an increase of around 15 per cent in arrivals from the UK there is good reason to be optimistic, especially after having two bad years,” AGTA chairman Noel Josephides told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
Since the number of British tourists peaked at over one million in 1992, the number of arrivals from the UK has decreased, but AGTA predicts that this year will see a marked increase.
According to AGTA figures, Cyprus can this year expect around 857,000 visitors from the UK.
The CTO puts the number of UK arrivals for last year at 790,000 (out of a total of two million visitors), a 10 per cent increase on 1996. The signs are that 1998 will be even better.
“Bookings for Cyprus (from the UK) for the 1998 Summer period have seen an impressive increase in the order of 60 per cent, compared to an increase of 19 per cent for the total market,” CTO director general Phrini Michael told the seminar.
She said that bookings for Cyprus far outstripped other competitive destinations such as Spain and Greece.
This was confirmed by Josephides: “Cyprus is outperforming all other destinations and people are booking earlier, but there is a limited capacity in the terms of numbers we can expect.”
He said the wheel had turned full circle, with British tourists fed up with destinations like Turkey now choosing Cyprus.
“It’s a fashion thing, Britons are looking for somewhere new. And I don’t see why we can’t achieve the one million figure.”
A healthy UK economy, favourable exchange rates due to a stronger Sterling and competitive prices are all reasons why Cyprus is once again an attractive destination for British tourists.
“It’s a safe destination, hotels are either offering the same or lower prices than last year and a strong Sterling has also helped,” said Josephides.
Michael also points to the fact that the CTO will spend £1.2 million in promoting Cyprus in the UK this year.
But Josephides warned hoteliers not to become too reliant on the big tour operators such as Thomson at the expense of the specialist trader.
“These companies have the power to wipe Cyprus off the map and just go on to somewhere else.”
He offered Egypt as a case study: “when the big guns pulled out it was the specialist operator which kept the destination going.”
However, the seminar concluded that more needed to be done, and quickly, to diversify and improve the product and restrict the number of new beds.
“We don’t need any more hotels, but we do need parks, pavements, a cleaner environment, lower costs and to treat our tourists with appreciation,” said Josephides.
