A few suggestions

Sir,

Most foreigners have chosen Cyprus as their base for its many pluses, but being initially outsiders does give us an international perspective and in this vein, I offer some solutions –all of which are practical and would be to the benefit of all, including Cypriots

a) Why are cruise ships not given some incentive to travel between here and the UK?

b) Would it not be a good idea to advertise more in Scandinavia where the winters are cold? To depend largely on UK tourists is economically dangerous

c) Would a convention centre not be self financing?

d) Introduce car lease/purchase schemes – nobody really understands all the grey areas of car buying

e) Improve customer awareness at hospitals

f) We all know the abuses of title deeds and the focus on selling new properties – this could be obviated by a push to selling resales with title deeds

g) Air fares could be susidised for young, elderly and the infirm

h) Could the people in the know not come into the open about oil reserves – is it there, yes or no?

i) Yes, the figures meet the EU criteria in many cases but on any rational ground the currency is 15 per cent overvalued and with falling property prices in the UK this will lead to a glut of new properties for sale with dire results

j) Pension funding needs to be more transparent and if needed be farmed out to the private sector

k) More openness is needed with the balance of payment figures – I believe current account and capital account figures are confused, to put it mildly.

l) The encouragement of Swiss franc mortgages without pointing out the risks worries me – especially should property values fall as we are seeing in Spain, the UK, Australia and the bubble starting in the US.

May I suggest the people concerned visit the most prosperous part of Spain – Calvia, i.e. Mallorca – and borrow a few of their ideas.

The sum total of the above would be to the benefit of all

Gerald Morse, Paphos

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.