A CRISIS plan to salvage tourism from the looming global economic downturn has been drawn up by The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), Director General Phoebe Katsouri said yesterday.
“We are trying to identify markets and clients that can give us the opportunity to maintain levels and income in the short term, and focus on those,” Katsouri told the Cyprus Mail.
“It will need a concerted effort to redirect marketing and advertising, and the private sector will have to become more flexible,” she added.
The plan will be submitted to the CTO board on Tuesday, and afterward to the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism. According to Katsouri it focuses on short-term measures to keep arrivals and revenue close to current levels.
Tourism to Cyprus has been stagnating for the past five years with arrivals hovering around the 2.4 million mark, and revenue not quite reaching 2001 levels of €1.7 billion.
In the first six months of this year arrivals were up 1.2 per cent overall but arrivals in July, one of the peak months of the year, were down 2.8 per cent. Revenue was down 5.0 per cent in July but up 2.0 per cent overall in the first six months.
Instead of now trying to boost numbers, the best that can be done due to the effects of the global crisis is for Cyprus to try to hang on to what tourists it has, at least for the short term, Katsouri said.
At a meeting of CTO officials on Wednesday it was decided an action plan was needed to counter the effects of rising oil prices and the recent collapse of a number of airlines and tour operators.
“We are taking very seriously into account the fact there is going to be a downturn in the propensity to travel because of the worsening economic situation and also the fact that the travelling public is going to have a reduced propensity to spend,” said Katsouri.
“Therefore our income is going to suffer. Our traditional trading partners the UK and Ireland are in a very difficult position. We don’t have much hope for them.”
Britain is Cyprus` biggest tourism market, accounting for around 1.3 to 1.5 million arrivals a year, or more than half the total.
Katsouri said however that at least Cyprus had not been caught unawares as far as the global crisis was concerned. The fact that tourism to the island has been stagnant for the past five years meant that much of the work in carving out new markets had already been done.
“We have been working very hard because Cyprus was already feeling the impact for some time now,” she said.
“It’s not a sudden thing for us. Yes it’s doom and gloom but we are hopeful we can find a niche market and maintain traffic and income.”
She said there was pessimism over current prospects but not too much.
Katsouri also said it appeared that the government and parliament were willing to give the CTO extra funding in the current budget.
She also said in the longer term, the CTO was going to aim its focus on cultivating countries with emerging markets such as the Middle East, Russia, China and India.
