Filenews 4 July 2021 - by Adamos Adamou
The countries of the European Union as the only way out for tourism in the next year at least, the Deputy Minister of Tourism sees, also expressing confidence that the flow of arrivals from Russia will continue.
Savvas Perdios referred to this outlet, both in the context of the PASYXE conference and in his public speeches last week, arguing that due to the preparation done in the context of the implementation of the national tourism strategy, to diversify tourist sources, air connectivity has already improved with a number of Member States of the Union.
Speaking last Thursday on Active radio, he explained that 70% of air seats to Cyprus today and by the end of the year are for countries other than Britain and Russia.
He also said that outreach costs are now focused on EU countries, arguing that the flow from Europe to Cyprus and travel to European territory in general will also be facilitated by the COVID digital certificate which officially entered into force on 1 July. He conceded, however, that any arrivals would not cover losses from Britain and Russia, nor would they bring them back to 2019 levels, which is expected to happen around 2024, but to some extent they will mitigate them.
The appeal to all partners in industry, he said, is not to leave our traditional markets, but to give everyone the importance we need in the EU, because, as he explained, "we have before us another 12 to 18 months of this pandemic at least" and the only region of the world that gives us a stable framework for travel is the EU. "This is an opportunity we must not miss," Mr Perdios said.
Opportunity to take advantage of
Just as clear about the direction the sector should take was the Deputy Minister of Tourism and in the context of the PASYXE conference, speaking from the floor of the hoteliers' conference last Tuesday. "We all need to realise that in the next 12 months it is the EU that will give us a stable travel framework so that we can attract tourism from there as well," he said.
He also said that "we have an opportunity ahead of us in the next 12 months to take advantage of the EU" and explained that "when we reach the end of the pandemic, towards the end of 2022, Europeans will start travelling again to the Maldives, to the US, to Hawaii and elsewhere."
The situation also seems to be recognised by hoteliers, however, with PASYXE President Haris Loizidis stating, at the association's conference, that "we are now called upon to seek opportunities in markets that we had not explored until now, while we are obliged to work to attract investment in the sector and the implementation of major projects and tourism infrastructures. , such as marinas and casinos". He said the first half was lost and that uncertainty continues to dominate tourism.
However, for his part, the Deputy Minister of Tourism continues to remain cautiously optimistic that this year will be improved compared to last year's tragic year. As you know, the total number of tourist arrivals last year was limited to 631,609 compared to almost four million in 2019 (3,976,777), recording a decrease of 84.1%. Tourism revenues were limited to just €392 million compared with €2.7 billion in the previous year of 2019, recording a decrease of 85.4%. The Deputy Minister of Tourism, however, defined 2024 as the horizon for a full recovery in tourism, explaining that the tourism strategy began to be implemented from January 2020, with many of the actions accelerated by the pandemic, with the aim of improving the tourism product in order to gradually become a year-round destination.
They're pushing from the outside.
On the objectives of lengthening the tourist season, improving the product and detoxing Cypriot tourism from two to three markets, Cyprus also has external "allies", as shown at the PASYXE conference.
Representatives of airlines and tour operators with their interventions even seemed ready to assist these efforts, while also putting pressure on operators within Cyprus to turn there.
In this context, a spokesman for the German airline Condor assured that the company's plans for postponed flights in 2020 still exist. In particular, Paul Schwaiger, Commercial Director of Condor Airlines, after admitting that Tourism in Cyprus is changing over the years, said that "we postponed our plans for a while because of the pandemic, but there is no reason not to implement them". He said he expected things to change with consumers, who he said are now turning to the internet to book trips.
He also said that "it is up to all of us to attract tourism to Cyprus, which will be different from the past". It is recalled that Condor had reached an agreement in 2019 with the Ministry of Tourism and Hermes for about eight flights a week from four German cities in 2020, which, however, was refrigerated due to the coronavirus pandemic.
New weekly flights from TUI GROUP
Optimistic note for the future and for this year also gave representatives of travel organizers in the framework of the conference of PASYXE. Particularly important was the announcement of Ivor Vucelic, Director of Hotel Product and Purchasing East Of The World, TUI GROUP Germany, who announced that the Group from the summer of 2022 will include in its weekly schedule 44 flights to Paphos and 55 flights to Larnaca. Furthermore, TUI CEO Of Russia and Ukraine Taras Demura estimated that around 200,000 Russian visitors are expected to visit Cyprus by September this year. In addition, he announced that his company intends to invest in the hotel sector in Cyprus.
Further investment by Wizz Air
In his own speech to the PASYXE conference, the Chief Commercial Officer of Wizz Air, who, as we know last summer, gained a base in Cyprus, George Michalopoulos, said that Cyprus is traditionally focused on the Russian and British markets and that he needs to see beyond them, as he said.
At the same time, he assured that Wizz is determined to invest further on the island, recommending, however, that for better performance in the winter season it is urgent to reduce costs, since as Cyprus said it is less competitive than Greece and Turkey, especially with regard to hotels. "Cyprus has no less to offer than Crete although the latter has had more arrivals in 2019," Roland Jaggi, the airline's Chief Commercial Officer, said on behalf of Aegean Airlines, arguing that our country still has enough to bring out to extend its tourist season. The position that the challenge for Cyprus is to prove that it is an all-time destination, expressed Ray Kelliher, Ryanair's director of route development.
