CTO seeks extra cash to boost winter tourism

THE CYPRUS Tourism Organisation (CTO) yesterday asked Parliament to approve a supplementary budget to help it boost winter tourism.

According to CTO Chairman Panos Englezos, the organisation is seeking over €4 million in a bid to improve winter tourism and effectively help the Cyprus economy.

The CTO’s attention, he added, has turned towards countries that haven’t been as badly affected by the international financial crisis, such as Middle Eastern states, Scandinavian countries and Russia, with whom the government has now arranged direct flights.

“Last year, many hotels had to close down during the winter,” said Englezos. “We want to change this situation. We are already in co-operation with travel agents abroad.”

There has already been an improvement from last year, according to the CTO head, with 75,000 tourists already planning to visit the island over the November 2008/April 2009 period.

“Last year, 43 hotels had to close down; this year only 13 hotels will do so and this is mainly due to renovations,” he said.

The CTO has prepared a strategic plan for the next three years, starting now, to increase winter tourists by a further 60,000 and surpass the highest record yet, which was noted in 2001.

Referring to the supplementary budget of €4,469,900, Englezos added: “This money will be productive for the Cyprus industry and the economy in general. The efficiency of this money will be much higher for the government compared to the €12 million it was last year called to pay out in unemployment cheques for those who were without work after the hotels closed down.”

Antigoni Papadopoulou of DIKO, the Chairman of the House Finance Committee that examined the budget, said her party would approve the extra cash because it was in favour of improving winter tourism.

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.