Filenews 3 December 2023 - by Adamos Adamou
It was about a year ago when the former Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios was talking about the significant dynamics of the Polish market, without ruling out that in the future this market will become the second in arrivals for Cypriot tourism, behind only the British one.
This dynamic continued this year and everything indicates that there will be continuity for 2024 based on the contacts that the current Deputy Minister of Tourism Kostas Koumis had in Warsaw with the main tourist operators of Poland.
Speaking to "F" from Warsaw, Koumis did not hide his optimism for the continuation of the dynamics of the Polish market as a result of his contacts last Thursday and Friday, expressing the estimate that in 2024 there will be an additional increase in tourist arrivals from Poland "of a minimum of 10%".
The Deputy Minister recorded historically the course of the Polish market, which basically began to show its potential only in the last two years, helped by the strengthening of air connectivity between Cyprus and Poland of 38 million inhabitants. "Until 1998 it was a completely unknown market for Cypriot tourism with visitors that year amounting to 18,000.
In the following years the market gradually showed a small increase and in 2018 tourist arrivals from Poland reached 89,000. In 2021, despite the restrictions due to the pandemic and due to the fact that the Polish government had not shown the same severity at the time compared to other countries, arrivals from Poland exceeded the 100,000 barrier for the first time. reaching 113,000". But the Polish market showed its potential a year later.
According to Mr. Koumis, "2022 showed a great increase and arrivals reached 186,000 and this year we reached hopefully until October 240,000 visitors, with arrivals compared to last year recording an increase of 47%".
According to the data on tourist arrivals so far, visits from Poland, which amounted to 240.765, exceed the total arrivals from the country for the whole of 2022. Specifically, last year, arrivals of Polish tourists had risen to 186.796 compared to 113.126 in 2021, recording again a significant increase of 65%!
Last minute
The Deputy Minister of Tourism also referred to the profile of Polish tourists who, as he said, travel frequently, but do not plan their excursions well in advance. "Poles are citizens who like to travel, they go out of the country three to five times a year.
The sun and sea product, naturally due to the climate of their country, is quite high in their preferences. I would also say that they are a last-minute people, that is, they decide on their trip just before they make it. As can be seen over time from statistics, the first countries among their choices are, apart from Germany, which is next to them, Spain, Italy, Greece has risen in recent years, but for years Croatia has also been a constant destination".
Gradually, but steadily, as the Deputy Minister mentioned, our country is being added to their choices as a result of the improvement of air connectivity that now exists between Cyprus and Poland, which is not unrelated to the large increase in arrivals of Polish tourists.
More of the year
In order to improve air connectivity between the two countries, Koumis said that this year there has been a significant increase in available seats to the country, also noting the fact that we had flights not only from Warsaw airport but also from several regional airports such as Krakow, Katowice etc.
"We had up to 33 flights a week in the summer, we had flights from both Warsaw airport and regional airports, and to these were added some charter flights," the Deputy Minister of Tourism said, adding that the total number of seats offered for our country had increased sharply compared to the previous year.
"We maintain good air connectivity for the winter season as well. It is important to mention that in the period November 23 and March 24 the available positions amount to 116 thousand," he said.
The Deputy Minister noted with satisfaction that based on his contacts in Warsaw, the increasing trend in available places and in the flow of tourists will continue in the new year. "For 2024 and for the continuation of the increase from Poland, which is the subject of our visit, is a bet that we clearly win," Koumis said, expressing cautious optimism that "in 2024 we will have a minimum increase of 10% in tourist arrivals from the Polish market."
He said that contacts and meetings were also special forms of tourism, with emphasis on sports tourism. "Now on every visit abroad it is imperative to promote the various sporting events planned and planned in our country," he said.
Good overall '23
The dynamics of the Polish market bring it up to October in third place in terms of tourist arrivals behind the UK and Israel. In general, by the end of October, the country's tourism has exceeded 3.5 million browsers, recording an increase of 21.1% compared to the previous year.
Revenues until the end of August recorded an increase of 25.4% and, as everything shows, we are expected to have a new revenue record, as announced by the Deputy Minister of Tourism during the recent presentation of the Deputy Ministry's budget for the new year.
According to the presentation of the Deputy Minister last Monday in Parliament, this year there are significant increases in the inflows of tourists from traditional markets, compared to the previous year (period January – October), such as the United Kingdom (increase of 7.2%), Germany (increase of 5.9%), France (increase of 31.1%), Sweden (increase of 21.4%), Switzerland (increase of 19.3%), Poland (increase of 47.1%), Israel (increase of 63.0%) etc.
An important element is also recorded the increase recorded by some new markets, such as Jordan, Georgia and Armenia, each of which, in the first ten months of this year, exceeded 18,000 arrivals.
More oxygen to the economy than tourism
The upward trend of tourism this year, but also last year, after the disastrous two years of 2020-2021 caused by the coronavirus and consequently the increased contribution of the sector to the economy is also recorded in the note submitted by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism to Parliament on the budget of the Deputy Ministry.
Tourism continues to be one of the most important sectors of the Cypriot economy, as it contributes significantly to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and makes a real and substantial contribution to the economy.
In particular, based on data published by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) for 2022, the total contribution (direct, indirect and induced) of tourism to the economy of our country was estimated at 12.2%. This contribution is expected to increase in 2023 to 12.8%, while due to the pandemic it was limited to 3.8% in 2020 and 9.1% in 2021. The percentage of jobs in the sector, against the total, was estimated at 12.6% in 2022, compared to 12% in 2021, while, according to WTTC estimates, in 2023, the percentage of jobs in tourism is estimated to increase to 13.5%.
According to the Deputy Ministry, the positive statistical data recorded are largely due to the various actions implemented and implemented by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, making special reference to the improvement of the air connection of Cyprus that has been achieved in cooperation with both the Ministry of Transport and Hermes Airports. This year, six airlines operate flights from six airports in France, while in 2019 there were no flights from this market.
Similarly, scheduled flights from Poland increased by 30% in the period January-September 2023, compared to the same period last year. It further mentions that the number of aircraft stationed in Cyprus has increased, recording the decisions of Wizz Air and Ryanair to be based in Cyprus.
It is noted that the budget of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism amounts to €65 million. for 2024, compared to €53 million which was the initial budget for this year, with the additional appropriations related to hosting Ukrainian refugees and unaccompanied minor applicants for international protection from third countries.
