Meetings with major British tour operators were held in London by 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 make up the shortfall in this year's arrivals and revenue left by Russia and Ukraine due to the war.
"We are working on the basis of the worst case scenario, i.e. arrivals from Russia and Ukraine this year will be zero. Based on this scenario, we have been preparing even before the war broke out," Perdios told CNA.
The task of filling this gap is no mean feat, considering that based on inbound tourism data in the record year just before the pandemic, these countries sent 800.000 visitors, 1/5 of the total.
"So for this replenishment we are turning to markets that we have been working on for years and now they are rewarding us with increased connectivity," Perdios said.
Indicatively, these markets include the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, but also Israel, which was essentially absent from the tourism market for the past two years due to a pandemic.
But perhaps in no other market has there been such a comparatively significant upgrade as in France, where whereas two years ago there was no direct connectivity, there are now 20 weekly flights from three airports serving Paris and cities such as Marseille and Toulouse, among others.
In total there are 100,000 seats available for Cyprus this year, with a variety of airlines offering them and without yet incorporating the future plans of French tour operators.
And by the end of the year, an opening is expected towards another market with huge potential, that of Saudi Arabia, from which there will be perhaps up to eight flights a week.
As far as the UK is concerned, Mr. Perdios spoke of "very strengthened demand" and of interest that has finally exceeded the expectations of the British market players as expressed in the previous visit of the Secretary of State to London in November.
The estimate now is that this year arrivals from the UK will be in the region of 1 million.
"I think this encouraging picture is due to the extraordinary and timely activation on our part, based on the contingency plan we put in place weeks before the war. The extraordinary partnerships we developed, in particular the co-marketing with our partners in the UK, worked."
Information from market players points out that due to the volatile situation created by the war in Ukraine, competitive markets that have a special relationship or proximity to Russia, such as Bulgaria or Croatia, are significantly affected. This in a sense "obliges" British tour operators to be more flexible, a condition that Cyprus is taking advantage of.
Perdios also noted that even without additional flights the dynamics of arrivals for Cyprus are increasing, as last year the occupancy rate of flights that took place was only 70%-75%.
For this year the forecast is for at least the same number of arrivals as last year, i.e. 2 million. This account was for Cyprus at 50% of the year before the pandemic, while the Mediterranean was at 45%, Europe at 37% and the world at 25%.
Along with the increase in arrivals, the Deputy Minister of Tourism expects an increase in revenues, as the markets that are opening are characterized by travelers with high per capita spending. Visitors from countries such as Switzerland, for example, or France are not as a rule oriented towards all inclusive holiday packages, a practice that is more common for visitors from Russia and other countries.
As a tourist destination Cyprus, Perdios said, is ready to welcome all these new visitors with their different and varied requirements. This is what the Deputy Ministry has been working on in recent years, resulting in, among other things, the campaign to promote thematic forms of tourism.
This change in the demands of tourists, however, also involves a challenge for the private sector, for every hotelier who will have to be flexible and possibly modify their product. "It is not an easy task for all hotel operators who have prepaid, who have made pre-bookings, to change their practice and now have to offer their product not for all inclusive packages, but per person and in other markets," Perdios admitted.
He said the state ministry's role is to increase demand for Cyprus and provide the tools that hoteliers need to do targeted advertising. He noted indicatively that in the case of France he will bring travel organisers in contact with the association of hoteliers in Cyprus to understand what the requirements and habits of French visitors are, which may be different from those of Russians.
Another issue on which 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 Deputy Minister explained, the high connectivity of the US-Britain and Britain-Cyprus does create this potential for penetration of the American tourist market.
Perdios said that thoughts are being given to how Cyprus could co-advertise in the huge American market, i.e. jointly with airlines and tour operators.
Source: CNA
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
