REPORTS that German tourists are put off Cyprus because there are too many noisy Brits on vacation emerged from Europe’s biggest tourism conference, held in Berlin this week.
Germans are the second biggest market for Cyprus holidays. Last year some 240,000 jetted in for a vacation, compared to 1.3 million Brits.
But British holidaymakers corner the Cyprus market, largely because of the island’s long affiliation with the UK and the fact that English is spoken right across the island.
Fifty per cent of the 2.7 million who holidayed in Cyprus last year came from Britain. But with 40 million Germans heading abroad every year, they are the world’s most active international travellers.
So what about Germans being deterred by Brits? Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis said the German snub wasn’t a question of a noisy Brit pack but rather a lack of things that make Germans feel comfortable in resorts primarily geared towards UK nationals.
Instead of Cyprus, German tour operators have developed very strong links with resorts in Greece and Turkey, which do offer enough Germanic reminders to satisfy.
“Germans would like to have a German ambience and something of their own surroundings, like German television, radio, some people who speak their own language, some of their own food,” said Rolandis, after his return from the International Tourism Fair.
The end result is that tourist arrivals from Germany to Cyprus are not expected to rise this year. But Director-general of the Hoteliers Association, Zacharias Ioannides told the Cyprus Mail that Germans who came to Cyprus were returning and were very satisfied with value for money.
He agreed, however, that more Germans would come if Cyprus tourism was tailored to suit more of their habits. “We are trying to encourage all markets and Germany is one of the most important,” said Rolandis.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
