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It is with great pleasure that
I am attending this conference entitled "Tourism Outlook and
Opportunities in a challenging environment". I strongly believe
that conferences like this one in which we participate today may help, through
the exchange of views by the top executives of the field, to achieve a common
goal. Our goal, which is to boost the tourism industry in a period of
crisis. I am certain that by the end of this conference each keynote
speaker will be wiser and will be able to further evaluate, in a positive
way, the final conclusions made. Undoubtedly,
the wisdom of many is greater than the wisdom of an individual. And this wisdom can
shape economies and businesses in small countries such as Cyprus
positively.
“Why is it important to be
optimistic and maintain investment activity”? Simply because we cannot
do otherwise. We do not have the “luxury” to sit back, complain and become
idle. I strongly believe that when a difficulty appears in the foreground,
the human mind is clever enough to observe the opportunities that fade in
from the background. In order, though, to be able to distinguish the
difficulty from the opportunity, one has to be optimistic, has to be
flexible, has to have the will and the courage, has to have the entrepreneur
mindset and has to be able to see ahead so as to forecast both the
opportunities and the challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic shocked
and shook, among others, the sector of tourism worldwide. The
governments worldwide had to take drastic measures to protect the health of
their population and at the same time ensure the viability of their country’s
economies. Our government was fully aware of the conditions that make
up the economy of a country and the way this can be affected by a global
pandemic.
Our Government has proved that
in difficult times deeds count and this is what we tried to do from the very
first moment the coronavirus came to the fore. We took the necessary
measures that restrained the effects of the crisis and at the same time we
created the conditions which could enable a gradual recovery of the tourism
sector.
From the beginning of the
crisis, we were fully aware of the manner a global pandemic, such as the
COVID-19, can negatively affect a healthy and sustainable economy, in which
the tourism industry plays a vital role. The aviation sector has been
seriously afflicted by this pandemic. Characteristically, in the
first months of 2021, there was a reduction of 60% in flights within and
outside the European Union. 2020 was equally difficult for the sector,
with a 54% reduction in passenger transport. From the beginning, our
Government was bold enough to take measures aiming, on the one hand, towards
the protection of the passengers travelling to and from Cyprus, and on the
other hand, minimizing the future negative effects towards the tourism
industry.
As Minister responsible of
Transport, from the very moment the pandemic appeared in Cyprus, I realized
that I would have to deal with a crisis which could severely affect Cyprus’
connectivity to the outside world. It was imperative to immediately
take those necessary measures which could safeguard Cyprus’ connectivity to
the outside world because both the tourism industry and the economy of the
country could deteriorate otherwise. It is widely accepted that,
compared to other EU Member States, the management by the Government of the
1st wave of Coronavirus pandemic was successful. Our primary goal was to
protect passengers and prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Due to this, passengers felt confident enough to travel through Cyprus’
airports. Receiving the trust of passengers was the first step to ensure
the economy of the country would not be paralyzed. The success of this
goal was achieved by applying different approaches. What we practically
did from th e beginning was, among other things, to immediately implement the
revised Cyprus Airports Health and Safety Protocols, to simplify the
procedures regarding the Covid 19 Test Areas at the airports and to proceed
with the new epidemiological categorization of the countries namely Green,
Orange and Red. Finally, we were the first EU country to present the
flight pass by applying the Cyprus Flight Pass and we introduced the
connectivity temporary incentive scheme.
In the midst of a pandemic,
through the connectivity temporary incentive scheme, we have succeeded in
ensuring a continuous flow of passengers to the airports of Cyprus. The
incentive scheme was implemented for the first time on the first of July 2020
and was recently renewed by the Council of Ministers to extent until the end
of 2021.
The Incentive Plan has been
positively assessed as, among others, it has attracted airlines to create a
base in Cyprus, “helped” new airlines to include Cyprus in their flight
destinations and multiplied travel destinations from where there was little
or no connectivity in the past. It is noted that through the Incentive Plan,
for the period of July to December 2021, it is expected that the average route
occupancy rate will rise to 74%. It is also expected that the 46 airlines
which will handle about 880 thousand departing passengers to 110 destinations
to be benefited from the Incentive Plan.
The budget of the Incentive
Plan for the period of July to December 2021 amounts to € 8.8 million. It is
imperative to mention that when the first Incentive Scheme was completed in
December 2020, 32 airlines benefited from the connectivity scheme and the
total incentive amount reached € 1,98 million. In that particular
period, the total departing incentivized passengers were only 148,607.
This success was achieved
because we faced the crisis straight in the eyes and proceeded with different
approaches which, most probably, we would have not done otherwise if the COVID-19
crisis did not appear. In other words, the crisis created those
opportunities, enabled us to see things in a different way and invited us to
“invest” creatively.
Considering the severe
circumstances we had to deal with, one may say that our efforts were
fruitful. As an example, I would like to mention that at the airports
in May 2020, the
passenger traffic was only 9.897 whereas a year later, in May 2021, the passenger
traffic reached 250,147. The percentage of the variance between 2020
and 2021 increased positively by 2428%.
Furthermore, as regards to the
passenger traffic in March2021, 46.262 passengers flied to and from Cypriot
airports. In April 2021, passenger traffic increased to 108.030 whereas
in May 2021, passenger traffic reached 250.147. It is interesting to
compare these numbers to the 2020 passenger traffic. In March 2020,
when the pandemic appeared to Cyprus the passenger traffic was 231.373, in
April 2020, 6.609 and in May 2020, 9.897.
It is important to mention at
this point that despite the fact that some important tourist markets for
Cyprus such as the United Kingdom and Russia remain closed, with the above
measures taken, we have created new opportunities for tourism by
counterbalancing new destinations.
Our efforts yield results and
this can be noticed by the arriving flights on a weekly basis.
Specifically, for the week 14-20 June 2021 there will be 410 arriving flights
to Larnaka and Pafos airports whereas for the week 21-27 June the arriving
flights will be 474, for the week 28 June to 04 July there will be 700
flights, for the week 5-11 July there will be 828 flights, for the week 12-18
July 834 flights, for the week 19-25 July 852 flights and lastly for the week
26 July to August 1st the will be 856 flights. Having
in mind that in a seven-week period of time the arriving flights will be
doubled, for us this is an indication that we have efficiently made use of
the opportunities which were created by the challenging tourism
environment.
As far as cruise tourism is
concerned, there has already been an increase in interest from shipping
companies for the inclusion of Cyprus in their cruise ship program. Three of
the largest companies specializing in cruise tourism, have informed us that
they have included Limassol in their routes, two of which informed us that
their cruise ships will be based in the port of Limassol.
Finally, I would like to point
out that during the EU Transport Council, which took place two weeks ago in
Luxembourg, I presented a Declaration on Air Connectivity, which is an
initiative of Cyprus co-signed by eight EU Member States, namely Cyprus,
Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Romania.
Considering that the pandemic
has created enormous connectivity problems in EU countries that are either
islands or are located on the peripheral area of the Union, the Declaration
aims to confront the problem by extending beyond the year the temporary
support status of the aviation sector. Due to its insular nature,
Cyprus is perhaps more influenced than any other EU Member State in terms of
its connectivity with the other Member States of the Union. I would like to
mention that with the Declaration we seek, among other things, the
preparation of an interim Action Plan with a time horizon of three years in
order to help the sector to recover.
Crises always create
opportunities. Having this in mind, our efforts aim towards getting the best
result for Cyprus. The challenges that arose, the preventive actions
that were taken, and the opportunities that were created and capitalized on
by the Government enabled us today to be optimistic as regards to the
handling of this crisis in local tourism.
Undoubtedly, we still have a
long road to follow until we return to the normality in which we were in the
past. However, I am optimistic and I believe that by making use of the
new opportunities the epidemiological crisis has created, we will eventually
not only return to normality but exceed the numbers we used to have before
the COVID-19 crisis.
Nothing should be taken as
granted. Succeeding in a period of crisis is not a farfetched
dream. Should one want to succeed in a period of crisis he or she must
monitor the opportunities that are created, be creative, be optimistic and
react by following the motto “when a door closes, a window always opens”.
(AT)
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