Arrivals could slump by more than 20 per cent next year
TWENTY days after offering solutions to the looming tourism crisis, hoteliers said yesterday the only change on the horizon was an even bleaker outlook for 2009.
At an extraordinary meeting of the Cyprus Hotels’ Association (PASYXE) yesterday, hoteliers expressed their anger and frustration that the government had done nothing with their proposals to reduce the cost of a holiday to Cyprus.
Meanwhile there was less than a month to go before foreign tour operators would decide which destinations to plug for summer 2009.
There was no doubt this would be based solely on the cost of the holiday, PASYXE chairman Haris Loizides said.
“I sincerely wish, in this brief address, to include a positive assessment of this year and a more optimistic outlook for the near future,” Loizides said.
“Unfortunately, neither our performance in 2008, nor the estimates for the new year, allow me to do so.” Loizides said.
Some weeks ago, following the World Travel Market exhibition in London, PASYXE estimated that tourism to the island would be down between 15 per cent and 20 per cent next year.
Loizides said yesterday that large British operators have not ruled out a slump higher than 20 per cent due to the global credit crunch. The collapse of sterling, fast nearing parity with the euro, has made the entire euro zone a no-go area for many in the UK.
He spoke of the collapse of large companies with the loss of thousands of jobs. These were the facts facing the world, he said.
Checking out Cyprus’ competitors, Loizides said they found governments in these countries taking bold moves to protect their tourism.
The €12 million given by the Cyprus government to the Cyprus Tourism Organisation was paltry in comparison with the millions being injected indirectly by Greece, Turkey and Spain.
“The €12 million… certainly cannot be considered sufficient to deal with a crisis of the scale I have outlined,” said Loizides.
“These were measures that should have been taken anyway regardless of the crisis.” He also said the €13 million offered in incentives to hoteliers to upgrade their establishments was peanuts considering most units needed between €2 million and €5 million.
“What we need are solutions that would reduce the price of our tourism package,” Loizides said. “Because in the crisis that we are experiencing, it should be understood that price will not merely be a factor… it will be the primary factor in the choice of destination.”
The PASYXE chairman said as the association had pressed home to the government 20 days ago, measures needed to be taken, and they needed to be taken now.
If they were, the situation could still be reversible. But once the operators take their final decisions next month on where they will offer holidays in 2009, it would be too late.
“Twenty days have passed, during which the only thing that changed is the estimates, which are even bleaker,” said Loizides.
Figures released by the Statistics Department yesterday showed that arrivals between January and November 2008, at 2.33 million, were 0.5 per cent down on the same period in 2007.
Since 2001, Cyprus tourism arrivals have dropped five per cent, and revenue 25 per cent.
