Filenews 27 November 2022 - by Adamos Adamou
The assessment that the Russian market, until recently the second most important for Cypriot tourism, will never be the same again, expresses the Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios. In an interview with "F", he explains how Cyprus will mitigate the specific losses that arise, what will be the contribution of the Saudi market that opens next year, but also what his own plans for the future.
Everything indicates that we will not have Russian tourists next year either. When do you think the Russian market will reopen for our tourism and what are we doing to make up for and mitigate the resulting losses?
I do not know when this market will open because it is not up to us. It depends on the situation in general, but even if the war stops, God knows when the market will be able to reopen. For next year, at least next year, we operate on the basis of zero arrivals from both Ukraine and Russia. Therefore, all our planning and plans and actions have this in mind. What we are doing to mitigate these losses is analogous to what we have done this year and in previous years. In other words, to attach even greater importance to the EU. There is huge potential for the EU countries, which is a very large market, and this has already been evident this year. The most important thing that all tourism operators must realize is that, and if the Russian market returns in a few years, it certainly cannot return to the size it was in the past, as first - first there will be no rooms for Russian tourists. Hoteliers, who now due to the absence of Russia have decided to turn to other markets, if and when after three or four years the Russian market partially recovers, will not be able to give the rooms that were given in the past. In short, the Russian market will never again be what it was for Cyprus.
Israel and Saudi Arabia
In addition to the EU, however, you also place the emphasis on neighbouring destinations, such as Israel and, most recently, Saudi Arabia. What are the prospects for tourism from the Saudi market, which opens in '23?
Let me first talk about Israel and say that this market, although it already has large numbers of arrivals, has even more prospects. It is a market that can operate for Cyprus on a year-round basis and it is what we are trying to do. For the first time this year there will be increased air connectivity with Israel, as for the winter there will be almost 40 flights a week, which is an excellent performance and helps a lot in short breaks, city breaks travel and helps the mountainous ones as well. Also, although the stay of Israelis is of short duration, usually three to four days, the daily expenditure, due to the shorter holiday season, is also higher. So, it is a market that is also close to us and we want it and we will continue to support it.
As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, we have to be realistic. It is our first step of the year in this market, from which we will have six flights a week, from three Saudi cities - Dammam, Jeddah and Riyadh - and already Wizz Air, with whom we met this week, has told us that it is quite optimistic about the routes. They feel that they will do well, but you can see that we are talking about six flights a week. Nothing huge should be expected, bearing in mind that markets such as the United Kingdom today, that is, in winter, have almost 70 flights a week and Israel 40. That is, to know what sizes we are talking about. However, I have said many times that we believe in this market and its prospects, essentially for three reasons. First, because it is a very large market in population, almost 40 million. Secondly, the country's population is young and this youth is not only more open-minded, but now discovers traveling abroad and is willing to travel with low cost airlines, such as Wizz Air, which is an advantage for us. And the third reason we believe in market prospects is because we are their closest European country. That is, even for a short break one can come from Saudi Arabia for three to four days.
The most important thing that we as a state, but also the private sector, must understand is that the Saudis will be last-minute tourists, because of the proximity and because of the cheap tickets. This means that we as a state must ensure that visas are issued quickly. And that is why the Deputy Ministry of Tourism reinforced the embassy in Saudi Arabia with its own person, given to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to help issue entry visas. At the same time, the private sector needs to know that Saudis will book two to three weeks before they fly and hoteliers will need flexibility. That is, not to expect a hotelier that suddenly a tour operator will be found and will set a schedule with charter flights and reservations, etc. The market is currently opening with individual last minute bookers travellers. This is the profile of the Saudi we expect to come to Cyprus next year. It may be something else in the future.
I wouldn't want to see someone take back what we did
In two months, the government's term of office expires and a new government is expected to take over. Have you thought about where Savvas Perdios will be next February or March? Do you have any plans for the future?
The answer is no. I don't have any plans, nor is it something I'm thinking about. We are committed to finishing the short-term action plan of the National Tourism Strategy, as we envisioned it. We still have some little things to finish and then we will do the evaluation at a press conference about the work that has been done and from then on we see.
If you are offered by the new Government, whatever it may be, to remain in your post, what will you do? Will you think about it?
In life nothing should be excluded, but everything is not absolute, it depends. For me the most important thing, not only as Deputy Minister of Tourism, but also as a tourism person, is the continuation of the implementation of the National Tourism Strategy. I believe in this thing that we do, that we did, in the National Tourism Strategy and the most important thing is to continue it. It goes without saying that, if a proposal is made to me - tell me - and it is a proposal based on other things, with a return to some bad thing of the past, I will not be interested. That goes without saying. Because I believe so much in what we do and I am so optimistic about the future of our tourism, based on the work we have done over the last four years, that I feel that this country, despite all the crises and difficulties, has brought to the table, has created and we are at the foot of a very strong era for tourism in Cyprus, A time that will be better than the previous ones and I am not talking about numbers of arrivals. I look holistically at the tourism part. We have now put on the table, on the map, areas that did not know what tourism was, special forms of tourism that no one had dealt with, villages that no one knew existed, we brought airlines and cruise companies that were a huge achievement in the pandemic. I would not like to see anyone take all this back and go to some practices of the past, such as continuing to depend on just two markets.
The operation of the casino
The opening of the casino in the new year will bring, according to estimates by the Ministry of Finance, a six-digit number of additional arrivals. Do you share this view?
Of course. And it is yet another fortunate thing for Cyprus that in '23 the resort casino will open. It will give Cyprus additional arrivals, that's a given. There will be other clientele and other visitors, not only in the gaming part, but also in terms of conference tourism and the field of meetings and events. Because now a space will be added that can be received up to 2 mm. individuals, as until now we have not had this advantage. It will certainly add to our overall product the event and is expected to resonate especially in markets in the Arab Gulf, but even from Israel we will have increases for the casino. Cyprus will definitely gain from the operation of the casino-resort and especially in the winter season.
