Sport tourism the way forward

THE development of sport tourism is now one of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation’s main priorities, the CTO chairman said yesterday.

“The main aim of the organisation is to establish and promote Cyprus as a destination for sport teams and athletes for warm base training,” said Alekos Orountiotis.

Orountiotis believes that this aim will be helped by the parallel organisation of international athletic events.

“These events will not only promote Cyprus abroad but will directly boost the local economy and the tourist industry. In 2009 €15.5 million of revenue was generated through sport tourism,” Orountiotis said.

Christos Tziambazis member of the CTO board of directors said that Cyprus has many advantages in attracting sport tourism in Cyprus thanks to its all year good weather, modern sport facilities, excellent hotels and is continually developing its reputation as an upcoming force as a “host destination” for important sport meetings.

According to research conducted by the CTO in 2009, 50 per cent of sport tourists stayed in four or five star hotels and spent about €201 per day. Most sport tourists came from Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Grants are available to establishments wishing to promote sports tourism. More details are available on the official site www.visitcyprus.biz.

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.