Turkey bird flu scare brings unexpected benefits
SPORTS tourism is on the rise, with analysts saying travellers are switching their attention from Turkey to Cyprus, due to the bird flu scare.
Sports tourism operator, Lakis Avramides, said the phenomenon was already on the rise due to a special Cyprus Tourist Organisation scheme which supports foreign football teams coming to the island with accommodation and training.
“But with the current bird flu situation, we have seen teams who were due to travel to Turkey coming instead to Cyprus, especially the Ayia Napa area.”
He went on to say that the number one factor that attracts foreign teams to the island is the weather. “We have recently seen sides from Switzerland, Germany and Russia coming over, mainly for training purposes,” he said. “Additionally, we get requests from US and Korean teams, among others.”
Recent reports said bookings for the period are up by 50 per cent in Ayia Napa. The town’s mayor, Barbara Pericleous said some of the football teams who were due to stay for one week have decided to extend their stays in Ayia Napa, rather than travel on to Turkey.
“They come to the town as we have 16 football pitches where they can train and we have good rates for pitch rental. Our aim is to attract people – not to make money.”
She added that there are 20 hotels currently open in the town, with various cafes, restaurants and shops also open.
“Tourism in general is on the rise in the town, with last summer seeing a ten per cent increase in numbers, which includes more families,” she said.
According to the Financial Mirror, the total number of tourist arrivals in Cyprus reached 2.47 million in 2005, the highest number since 2001, and marked an increase of 5.2 per cent on the previous year, in line with government forecasts.
This is the first year of decent growth since the peak of 2.7 million arrivals in 2000.
Tourist arrivals rose only slightly in 2001 (0.4 per cent) and fell sharply in 2002-03 as a combination of external factors hit demand: the attacks on the US in September 2001, the SARS virus and fears that chemical weaponry could be launched against the British Bases in Cyprus.
The strongest recovery among the main markets came from Ireland, where a 28.1 per cent decline in 2004 turned into a 19 per cent increase in 2005.
Arrivals from Russia also marked a strong turnaround, rising by 16.4 per cent in 2005, compared with a 20.2 per cent decline in 2004.
Arrivals from Russia fell after Cyprus was obliged to tighten visa controls before entering the EU but had not yet organised procedures to ensure that the new visas could be issued quickly.
The government is now planning to speed up procedures further to allow multiple entry visas.
Arrivals from Cyprus’ main market, the UK, which supplies more than half of all tourists, rose by 4.4 per cent, compared with a decline of 1.1 per cent in 2004.
The only major market to record a decline was Greece, arrivals from which fell by 2.4 per cent, after a strong 20.9 per cent rise in 2004.
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