Filenews 2 April 2022
Meetings with the main British tour operators have been held in London by the Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios. The aim of his visit and contacts was to assess and further increase the extent to which the British tourism market can fill the gap in this year's arrivals and in the revenues that Russia and Ukraine will leave due to the war.
"We are working on the worst-case scenario, i.e. arrivals from Russia and Ukraine this year will be at zero. Based on this scenario, we are already preparing before the outbreak of the war", said Mr. Perdios.
The task of filling this gap is by no means insignificant when you consider that based on the data on incoming tourism in the record year just before the pandemic, these countries sent 800,000 visitors, that is, 1/5 of the total.
"So for this replenishment we turn to markets, on which we have been working for years and now they reward us with increased connectivity," Said Mr. Perdios.
Indicatively, these markets include the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, but also Israel, which due to the pandemic essentially abstained from the tourism market in the previous two years.
Perhaps, however, in no other market has there been a comparatively as significant upgrade as in France, from where two years ago there was no direct connectivity, there are now 20 weekly flights from three airports serving Paris but also from cities such as Marseille and Toulouse, among others.
In total there are 100,000 airline seats available for Cyprus this year, with a variety of companies offering them and without yet incorporating the future plans of French travel organization companies.
By the end of the year, it is expected to open up to another market with huge potential, that of Saudi Arabia, from where there will be perhaps up to eight flights a week.
As far as the UK is concerned, Mr Perdios spoke of "very strong demand" and of interest that has finally exceeded the expectations of the British market players as expressed during the secretary of state's previous visit to London in November.
The estimate now is that this year arrivals from the UK will be around 1 million.
"I think this encouraging picture is due to the extraordinary and timely activation on our part, based on the plan that we drew up weeks before the war for all eventualities. The extraordinary partnerships we developed, in particular the co-communication with our partners in the UK, worked," said Mr. Perdios.
Information from market participants indicates that the liquid situation created by the war in Ukraine significantly affects competitive markets that have a particular relationship or proximity to Russia, such as Bulgaria or Croatia. This "obliges" in a sense British tour operators to be more flexible, a treaty that Cyprus exploits.
Mr. Perdios also noted that even without additional flights, the dynamics of arrivals to Cyprus are increasing, as last year the occupancy of the flights that took place was only at 70%-75%.
For this year the forecast speaks of at least the same arrivals as last year, namely 2 million. This figure was for Cyprus at 50% of the year before the pandemic, while the Mediterranean moved at 45% respectively, Europe at 37% and the world at 25%.
In parallel with the increase in arrivals, the Deputy Minister of Tourism expects an increase in revenues, as the markets that are opening are distinguished by travellers with high per capita expenditure. Visitors from countries such as Switzerland, for example, or France are not generally oriented towards all-inclusive holiday packages, a practice that is more common for visitors from Russia and other countries.
As a tourist destination, Cyprus, stressed Mr. Perdios, is ready to welcome all these new visitors with the different and varied requirements. The Deputy Ministry has worked on this in recent years, resulting, among other things, in the campaign for the promotion of thematic forms of tourism.
This change in the requirements of tourists, however, also poses a challenge for the private sector, for every hotelier who will have to be flexible in order to possibly modify their product. "It is not an easy task for all hotel businesses that have been prepaid, that have made reservations, to change their practice and now have to offer their product not for all inclusive packages, but per person in other markets", admitted Mr. Perdios.
He said the deputy ministry has the role of increasing demand for Cyprus and offering the tools that hoteliers need to make targeted advertising. He noted that in the case of France he will bring in contact the tour operators with the association of hoteliers in Cyprus, in order to understand what are the requirements and habits of French visitors, which may be different from those of Russians.
Another issue on which Mr. Perdios had some initial exploratory discussions in London is the prospect of attracting travellers from the US, with Britain acting as a stopover.
As the Secretary of State explained, the high connectivity between the USA, Britain and the UK and Cyprus does indeed create this prospect of penetrating the American tourism market.
Mr. Perdios said that there are thoughts about how the co-advertising of Cyprus in the huge American market could work, that is, together with airlines and tour operators.
