CYPRUS IS losing out in the internet bookings stakes, president of the Cyprus Hotel Managers Association, Polis Kallis said yesterday.
Kallis expressed his concern and disappointment over the inadequate online presence of Cyprus as a tourism destination.
As internet bookings rise across the globe, Cyprus is losing out badly, which has prompted tourism professionals to urge the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO)to take action on the matter.
“We are particularly worried at the inadequate presence of our tourism product online. At the same time, we are stunned at the fact that tourism officials do not appear to give the required priority to Internet tools,” said Kallis.
“While dozens of additional millions have been approved for the immediate and urgent tourist promotion of Cyprus, our poor presence on cyberspace shows that no funds were secured for this purpose. It is obvious that we failed again to understand the demands of modern times, he added.
Kallis said tourism stakeholders were struggling as professionals “on a daily basis” to attract tourists to Cyprus.
“However, we feel weak to act as individual units in the competitive markets where timely and imaginative investments are made in online marketing,” he said.
“Unfortunately, area advertising agencies are also absent from online affairs, a fact that is equally worrying. Inevitably, hundreds or thousands of bookings are absorbed by other markets.”
The view that Cyprus’ online presence is inadequate is also shared by e-businesses operating on the island.
“Cyprus is certainly lagging behind in comparison to other countries,” said Alex Schleiffer, CEO of SIDESHOW.com, an interactive digital advertising agency.
“The CTO had tried to do something, but the budget is simply not there. It is also the responsibility of hotels and people who make money off tourism to focus on their online presence.”
Schleiffer said the vast majority of people in Western Europe, where most of Cyprus’ traffic comes from, search and book their holidays online. There are major European websites that feature Cyprus, but the local content is not there, he said
“Most of our business comes from abroad; if we tried to do it exclusively in Cyprus, we would not have grown because of this situation. Although the population in Cyprus is tech-savvy and have adopted the internet like everywhere else in the world, the government organizations and the officials have not. The government is the last to act on this issue and the CTO needs to get their act together,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Kallis also expressed concern on the fact that internet searches about Cyprus, bring up results from the north. “In addition to the financial loss in terms of lost tourists brought, this issue also has national parameters. One third of the results of an internet search for ‘hotels in Cyprus’ will show Turkish Cypriot options,” Kallis said.
Schleiffer argued that this may not be the main problem, but that Cyprus’ poor presence means that the island will not come up in more generic searches. “It is an exaggeration to say that only hotels in the north come up from an internet search. You do get some results of hotels in Cyprus, but you don’t get an adequate view of what Cyprus has to offer. However, if searching for a Mediterranean destination online, you will not find Cyprus. You will probably see nice pictures of Croatia or the Greek Islands instead. This is because the effort has not been made to be competitive,” he said.
