TRAVEL agents yesterday complained that the implementation of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation’s (CTO) strategic plan to reposition Cyprus on the map was lagging behind and urged that it be speeded up.
Speaking at their AGM, Adamos Varnava, the president of the Association of Cyprus Travel Agents (ACTA), said the implementation of the plan was slow, either because the relevant studies had not been completed or because there were other difficulties.
He mentioned bureaucratic, legal, environmental causes, and also an apparent lack of interest or motivation by local authorities.
“Authorities are delaying the preparation of the regional action plans,” he said. “This may be due to a reluctance or reduced interest of the private sector to proceed to the required investment due to the uncertainty about the viability or profitability of the various projects which they are called on to undertake and materialize.”
Varnavas also said there was much the CTO could do when it came to advertising Cyprus. Recent studies have concluded that Cyprus as a destination does not have a well-defined tourist product from the visitor’s point of view, and advertising appears to contain a mish mash of what’s on offer, from sun and sea, to culture, sports and nature.
Varnavas said the advertising campaign should be divided into two parts. “One part must be directed to the broader public who are interested mainly in sun and sea and the second part must be absolutely specialised and aim at the sections of the market that are interested in alternative forms of tourism that are more profitable,” he said.
“Whether we like it or not, Cyprus will always be a destination of sun and sea and this is the kind of tourism that brings in the big numbers which are considered indispensable for the viability of our product.”
Varnavas said the alternatives Cyprus had to offer should be seen as an added value to the product. “So let’s stop complaining and roll up our sleeves and start work together,” he said. ‘We do have the qualifications and the abilities and the natural beauties and the history and the culture for this.”
Speaking about prospects for 2005, Varnavas agreed with other estimates in the sector that it would not be exactly a perfect year and that even though arrivals would rise slightly, the downward trend in revenue seemed to be continuing.
According to ACTA statistics, spending per tourist has dropped from a high of £471 in 2001 to £418 in 2004. Tourism’s contribution to GDP, which stood at a record 21 per cent in 2001, has fallen to only 13 per cent of GDP last year.
Increasing amounts of money are also leaving the country, as more Cypriots and other residents choose to holiday away from the island. ACTA figures show that, in 1998, over 300,000 people in Cyprus took a holiday abroad. This had risen to over 560,000 in 2004. In terms of expenditure, this translates into £133 million spent on holidays out of Cyprus in 1998, which had risen to some £280 million by the end of last year.
Varnavas said that although this should imply that travel agencies were cleaning up, the opposite was true. He said the average price of an air ticket in 2004 was £214 compared to £247 in 2003, a drop of 13 per cent last year and back to the same level as the year 2000.
Varnavas said that while travel agents’ commissions on air fares had dropped from 9 per cent to 7 per cent, the amount of money going to the government in airport insurance and taxes and fees was £18 million in 2004 compared to only £8.5 million in 2000.
“If we add to this all he guarantees which our members have to deposit in accordance with the law, which are anything from £24,000 to £1.5 million, for every member, we believe that the problems being faced by our members are clear,” he said.
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