Filenews 8 January 2023 - by Adamos Adamou
Not only the European market is targeted by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, but also specific groups of tourists, with a horizon of attraction until 2030, based on the National Tourism Strategy, which has the same implementation horizon.
Based on what the Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios presented last December in the context of a review of the implementation of the National Tourism Strategy, the objectives of the Deputy Ministry for the coming years, regarding specific market segments, are now given special emphasis on attracting long-term visitors.
In this context, the Deputy Ministry is investing in attracting specific categories of visitors, such as pensioners, digital nomads and visitors who will arrive in the country for medical rehabilitation. For the latter, it is no coincidence that one of the four sponsorship schemes that have been included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) of Cyprus includes a sponsorship plan for the creation of medical facilities and facilities for autonomous assisted living in tourist accommodation / hotels, with the aim of attracting medical tourism and health and wellness tourism, with a budget of € 8 million by 2026.
In order to attract digital nomads, we remind you that a special project is already running that provides a conditional residence permit to digital nomads from third countries, but also to families, while the Deputy Ministry of Tourism also aims to attract technological tourism from Europe as well, as digital nomads are possibly the definition of long-term visitors, as long as they work and live in the destination they choose for a specific period of time, thus contributing to the economy in general.
The other groups of visitors targeted by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism and the National Tourism Strategy continue to include, among others, people over the age of 50 and families with children who want holidays in destinations with sun and sea. Families with children are now part of the market, as Mr. Perdios observed, which does not exceed 15% of travel worldwide. The objectives of the Deputy Ministry include visitors to the island for short getaways, who will come either for festivals, for city breaks or for shopping, but also domestic tourism, ie attracting locals for escapes to nature, etc.
Finally, the goals include visitors who will combine their trip to Cyprus with other destinations, such as Jordan, with which our country is preparing joint tourist packages. For the promotion of the common packages, but also for the promotion of our country in general in America, a delegation of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, headed by Mr. Perdios, will be in the USA from January 21 to 29.
Priorities until '25
In the context of the implementation of the National Tourism Strategy, the Deputy Ministry has meanwhile set specific priorities and actions for the next three years and specifically for the period 2023 to 2025. These reaffirm the goal of further upgrading the tourism product and further promoting and highlighting the countryside and mountainous areas of the country. As Mr. Perdios mentioned, these priorities are based on five pillars: In education (re - skilling & up- skilling), in remote areas, in measurements and statistics, in accessibility and the environment and in the enrichment of the product. For education, as mentioned, special emphasis will be placed on people active in mountainous, rural and remote areas with the aim of acquiring basic knowledge of the hospitality sector.
Support for the mountains
To support remote areas, the actions include the implementation of the sponsorship plans that have been included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, but also the implementation of the specialized action plan prepared for the apartment of Polis Chrysochous and Tylliria. Regarding the measurements and statistical data, the creation of a single mechanism for monitoring tourism statistics and the publication every January of specialized data, as well as the carrying capacity measurements of the destination, for costing the environmental, social impacts stemming from tourism that will be taken into account for the definition of policies, were announced.
The accessibility and environmental pillar includes medium-term improvement actions and enhanced visibility of Cyprus as an accessible tourist destination and as a destination with environmental sensitivity. Finally, for the further enrichment of the product, among other things, there will be a strengthening of the 12 existing labels, as well as the introduction of 4 more (wellness Destinations, Stays in Nature, Themed Beaches, Cyprus Convention Bureau), as well as enhanced actions for nautical tourism and for health and wellness tourism.
Key to Cyprus and the upgrading of public transport
The ultimate goal of the actions of the Deputy Ministry and the National Tourism Strategy is for Cyprus to be able to establish itself as one of the 30 most competitive countries in global tourism by 2030.
In 2021, based on the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, it was in 31st place among 117 countries. Based on the same index of the World Economic Forum, our country was in 2021 in 21st place out of 43 countries in Europe and 6th out of 16 Mediterranean countries.
The task of including the country in the top 30 worldwide in terms of tourism competitiveness is not at all easy, if one considers that Greece in 2021 was in 28th place. Based on the same index, Turkey ranked 47th, Malta 35th, Egypt 51st, Portugal 16th in the world, Spain 3rd place and France 4th.
To improve the country's competitiveness ranking, the deputy minister of tourism listed specific measures to be taken to improve the country's image in areas that appear to be lagging behind. As it is on the issues of entry visas from third countries but also on public transport, noting that in this direction the demarches of the Deputy Ministry to the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are intensified.
Regarding public transport, Mr. Perdios explained that the goal among other things should be to further improve it, but also the connectivity of the villages with each other, as well as with the airports, since, with the exception of the British, other visitors do not drive like us, on the left, so some tourists do not feel comfortable renting cars.
Mr. Perdios also referred to the need to improve the level of competitiveness of the destination price, which can only be done by further upgrading the product, as Cyprus is not considered, nor does it seek to be, a cheap destination.
