The conference on "Tourism: the next day", organised by the Cyprus Tourism Business Association (CTO) was attended today by the Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Mr. The purpose of the conference is to discuss ways to restart tourism after the severe blow to the sector due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Focusing on the effort to redefine the tourism model, making more use of digital technology, the participants will examine the redefinition of the tourism model and the shift to quality tourism.
In his intervention in the thematic session entitled "Quality tourism as a response to the crisis", the Minister of Transport pointed out that for him, quality tourism is defined as the kind of product that we will create and offer to tourists and which will result, on the one hand, in the creation of a product that will be more attractive to tourists and, on the other hand, in the creation of a tourist destination.
In his intervention in the thematic session entitled "Quality tourism as a response to the crisis", the Minister of Transport pointed out that for him, quality tourism is defined as the kind of product that we will create and offer to tourists and which will result, on the one hand, in the creation of a tourist destination. In order to achieve this objective and attract quality tourism, we need to create the conditions that will offer visitors a complete tourist experience. "We need to create such a tourist resort and for visitors to have such unique experiences and memories, so that when they return back home they take a little bit of Cyprus with them, a little bit of the tourist resort they have visited, so that we have repeat visitors," he said.
Referring to the role played by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works in this project, the Minister noted that it is essential that there is adequate air connectivity. He added that in collaboration with the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, Hermes and other partners, a very worthwhile effort is underway, which has resulted, in the midst of a crisis and pandemic, in an increase in available destinations to 158 in 2021 compared to 150 in 2019, which has been described as the best year in terms of passenger traffic and tourism.
Finally, Mr. Karousos referred to the initiative of the Ministry of Transport of Cyprus on the Declaration on Air Connectivity, which has been adopted by 13 other EU Member States. Through this initiative, the Minister concluded, "we are asking the European Commission to present a concrete plan for the support and recovery of air transport, but also to give us the tools to support air connectivity. One of the objectives of the Declaration, in addition to the tools and pressure on the European Commission to support aviation, is to provide a definition of what minimum air connectivity is."
(MKY)
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