Cyprus needs to recognise tourists are not cash cows

Sir,
I was interested to see your article regarding the proposals to invigorate tourism by investing in new projects and upgrading existing accommodation.

While I agree that much accommodation is desperately in need of this, new waterparks etc. are not necessarily the way to go. The whole problem is the pricing of the existing facilities – Cyprus is an expensive destination by virtue of flight costs, hotel rates etc., in particular for UK clients who have seen the increase in value of the Euro against sterling wipe out any advantages.

We are nearly at the point of £1 = €1 and that will make things even worse. While we may love your country and have visited regularly for many years, it is now priced out of the market and no fancy new facilities at even higher prices are going to turn that round.

If you want us to continue coming, make it once again a destination where we can afford to enjoy a holiday instead of counting every euro to see if we can go out to dinner. Price increases we found this year are just pure greed and not justified by the currency change-over or costs of food or materials.

Tourists are not cash cows and until everybody involved in the tourist industry gets real and adjusts according to the world financial crisis these efforts will not reap the return of visitors they are designed to address. If I come back next year, I will be having a true self-catering holiday, i.e. buying the food and cooking meals, not going out to restaurants and paying through the nose for what can often turn out to be poor.

Cyprus has always been a place where good service and quality has been a given, now it is losing this also in the pursuit of higher profit. I know this does not apply to all, there are still many lovely places where it still exists, but increasingly the whole ethos of Cypriot hospitality is being sacrificed on the altar of greed.

I beg you to please give some thought to how you can improve the existing experience before building new white elephant projects that no-one can afford to visit

Lesley Veitch
Milton Keynes, UK

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.