Filenews 19 March 2023 - by Dora Christodoulou
Paphos is now entering the new era of technologies for good in terms of its international tourism promotion. A few weeks after the official inauguration of six infrastructure projects within the framework of the "smart city" and having since the beginning of the year the European anointing of the "European capital of smart tourism 2023", Paphos is already implementing pioneering procedures for Cypriot standards in promoting it in European markets and attracting new forms of tourism.
The central policy of the Paphos bodies related to the tourism industry is to promote it through digital marketing. An innovative process that was already implemented last summer, with the assistance of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, yielding to the maximum extent, as recognized by local authorities.
Citing as an example the results of the digital campaign for the period April-October 2022, in which hoteliers and tourism operators of the province participated, the president of the Paphos Region Tourism Development and Promotion Company (ETAP), Kyriakos Droussiotis, told "F" that more than 8 million unique potential visitors have received the messages of the e-campaign, while more than three million recipients of the video message fully completed its viewing. Mr. Droussiotis expressed his full satisfaction for the fact that Paphos has embraced the new data in the field of digital marketing for two years now.
"We promote through the ETAP the whole effort", he stressed, "and we are pleased to see this effort constantly improving its results and targeting. Already, one of the main messages is that there will be an expansion of this campaign until the end of this year."
Th. Michaelides: Improvement of indicators
For his part, the president of PASYXE Paphos, Thanos Michaelides, described the results of the effort so far as very satisfactory and expressed the certainty that the emerging rise will continue this summer.
"This is a very successful and pioneering effort of the private and public sector," he said, "and our goal is not only to improve the flow of tourists to the district of Paphos, but also the quality of the tourist. In the two years that this campaign has been going on, we have seen the indicators constantly improve. This is a campaign based on the most modern technology related to digital marketing and is based on market research that has been done last year to properly target the tourist we want to attract to Paphos".
An important aspect of the study of the tourist agencies of Paphos is also the one that concerns the profile of the average visitor and how much this has begun to change due to the pandemic. Even the British market, which is the dominant market in Cyprus and especially in Paphos, Kyriakos Droussiotis observed, last year recorded a decrease of 10%, which was to be expected.
"Even before the pandemic and before the war in Ukraine we expected that because of Brexit we would see at some stage a reduction from this market," he said. "This means that the emphasis on European Union markets is significant and that visitors come to Paphos from many EU countries.
Many of them rent cars to go to other areas, such as Pyrgos Tyllirias and Polis Chrysochous. While before the pandemic there was a 70% dependence of tourism on tour operators with charter flights, now this percentage does not exceed 50% which means that the remaining 50% are from individual travellers who really come to discover all areas, but also special forms of tourism".
The conference that took place recently at the Annabelle Hotel in Kato Paphos is considered to be a supportive of Pafos' effort to gain a leading position in the new forms of digital tourism promotion. This is the Desti Smart Interreg conference of the European Union, a gathering of key importance given the assumption of the anointing of the capital of smart tourism by Paphos this year.
The President of the ETAP points out that Paphos is already an area fully harmonized with the process of transition to new smart tourism practices and within the framework of the national strategy for tourism, he hopes that by 2030 it will be able to turn into a year-round destination:
« A higher quality, climate-friendly and digitally smart destination. We will leverage technology and data to make the destination smarter in terms of what it offers to our visitors in which all residents can benefit from tourism."
Mr. Droussiotis expressed the satisfaction of the tourism body of the Pafos district, for the fact that a project is being completed whose subject matter is fully in line with the strategy of the Pafos district.
An even smarter destination
"The goal and purpose of all Paphos partners is to make the destination even smarter," he observed. "Through this program and through the anointing of the European Capital of Smart Tourism, we have managed to become recipients of good practices and with EU funding to implement a specific action plan that can be used mainly by visitors.
Our ultimate goal with Smart Destinations is to build an environmentally sustainable low-carbon economy with smart technologies.
The project facilitates the adoption of Information and Communication Technology solutions for sustainable mobility and accessibility to tourist destinations, thus making tourism in European regions more efficient in various ways. Sustainable and responsible tourism can benefit greatly from digital applications at all stages of visitor information, travel guidance, intermodality and seamless travel solutions."
Messages to eight tourist markets
The president of ETAP stressed to "F" that as part of the effort to promote the digital campaign, it became possible to raise an amount of 150 thousand euros to carry out the campaign.
"For the second time in the annals of Cyprus, such an action to promote a tourist destination is planned and executed based on the analysis and continuous evaluation of travel data through the utilization of Sojern, the largest Travel Data Marketing Engine in the world", he pointed out. "With the use of advanced algorithmic technology, the interest of potential visitors to Paphos as well as to competitive destinations is identified online and the promotional message is targeted to potential visitors".
This campaign starts in April, peaks in the summer months and ends in mid-October, while focusing mainly on main or emerging markets such as those of Britain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, Poland and Israel.
