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- Ελληνικά
It is with great pleasure that I participate in the annual General Assembly of the Pancyprian Hoteliers Association (PASYXE), a benchmark institution for the tourism ecosystem of our country. My presence here along with six Ministers is indicative of the importance we as a Government attach to Tourism.
Tourism has always been a high priority sector, since the progress and performance of the sector directly influences, among many other things, the growth and sustainability of our economy.
An economy, and we are particularly pleased about this, which continues to record a positive and stable course with a growth rate of 3.5% in the first quarter of the year and with very positive forecasts from the European Commission for the coming years.
As a vote of confidence in our economy, in the policies we follow and in the responsibility with which we approach the issue, the recent upgrades of our country's credit rating by international rating agencies are a vote of confidence. The recent upgrades demonstrate the soundness of the Government's economic policy, based on the triple bottom line: fiscal responsibility, a strong financial sector and continuous and bold reforms.
This year's General Assembly of PASYXE takes place in the midst of major challenges, both for global tourism and for tourism in our country.
The geopolitical instability in the Middle East, the ongoing war in Ukraine, the economic deterioration and the slide into recession of major economies in Europe that serve as sources of tourism for our country, as well as the unprecedented crisis in the aviation sector that has affected and is still affecting the flight schedules of dozens of airlines are developments that are of concern to us. Despite the challenges arising from these developments, I am confident that your industry will once again demonstrate the same resilience as in previous crises. A resilience that is due to a number of important factors, such as the very good reputation of our country's tourism product and the admittedly good level of our infrastructure. The satisfactory air connectivity - here there is always room for improvement - as well as the constant modernisation of infrastructure and hospitality services, a parameter that is inextricably linked to the hotel industry, to your work, and is something for which you deserve congratulations.
From our side, as the Government, we constantly monitor the developments affecting the tourism sector and we listen to your concerns, expressed through the very frequent meetings we have with PASYXE, such as the increase in energy costs, the lack of human resources, the need for greater visibility abroad, the perennial challenge of extending the tourist season and, of course, the need for continuous improvement of the tourism product.
It is precisely for this reason that, from the first day we took office, we undertook substantial initiatives aimed at finding permanent solutions for the benefit of the hotel industry, the tourism sector in general and of course the economy.
In the past year we focused our actions on returning our country's tourism to the high performance of the past, which, admittedly, has been achieved. Work was also done by the previous administration, we built on this work, we went even further in this sector. Action that continues unabated this year, in a differentiated context, due to the new challenges that characterize the international tourism environment.
What is certainly required for tourism in our country is the stabilization of high performance, which will enable us to focus on the other challenges facing the sector, such as, for example, the cost of energy.
The aim is certainly for our country's tourism to stabilize at a high level of performance, which will enable us to focus on the other challenges facing the sector, such as the cost of energy.
It is in this context that our decision was taken to introduce a project to generate electricity from renewable energy sources for own consumption, known as Virtual Net-Billing, which offered solutions to the hotel industry, reducing energy costs. Because we saw the added value we recently revised the plan by increasing the limit from 150 KW to 800 KW.
The ability to find the right and sufficient workforce and maintaining normal labour relations - labour peace in our country has been something that has been one of the strongest components of our economy over time - is another area that we have been concerned about from the very beginning, as we are well aware that these are necessary ingredients for the proper functioning of the tourism industry and perhaps one of the biggest challenges you face.
I am glad because the long delays are finally a thing of the past, as the process of issuing work permits for third-country nationals has been greatly accelerated and now takes less than two months, whereas previously it took around six months or more. Today I promise you that these times will soon be reduced even further.
And I say this because this year, before the beginning of the summer, the examination of more than 95% of the applications submitted for the arrival of workers from abroad for our tourism industry was completed, so that each company can be properly staffed, while at the same time the re-employment of seasonal local workers, who, no doubt, for you and for us are the mainstay of Cypriot tourism, is progressing smoothly.
At the moment we are continuing with the streamlining of internal procedures, in accordance with the recommendations of a consultancy firm that we have engaged specifically for this purpose, for further simplification and standardization, while by the end of 2024 we will proceed with the operation of a special electronic platform for the submission and management of the relevant applications.
On the same issue, we also proceeded, as promised, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt for the employment of personnel, depending on the needs of the market. At the same time, I think we all agree that the quality of the workforce is particularly important for the tourism product we offer. The relevant Ministry of State is drawing up a new training framework for workers in the sector, based on the modern needs of the times, together with the Ministry of Labour, and the need to provide seminars as part of upskilling and reskilling, with an emphasis on continuous training and the acquisition of new knowledge and skills.
One of the first requests I received from you was to support work, rather than unemployment. Instead of giving unemployment benefits, subsidize work. You listened: On January 4, the Council of Ministers took the decision to re-launch the training project entitled "Training project for workers in hotel units under partial or total suspension of operations", with clearly improved conditions on the basis of your own recommendations, so as to encourage the continued operation of hotel units during the winter season.
Indeed, in order to create more stable jobs through the full-time operation of hotel units and to expand the tourist season Today we are taking an important step towards mitigating the problem of seasonality. In cooperation with you, we are ready to promote other actions to make our country a competitive destination in winter as well.
Fully aware of the need for a stronger presence of our country abroad, but also responding to a long-standing request, as international competition is becoming increasingly intense, we have decided to increase the budget of the Ministry of Tourism for 2025 by 10 million euros for the promotion of Cyprus abroad.
On the specific issue of promoting Cyprus abroad, I believe that our country's tourism will also benefit from the "Rebranding" campaign that we have already launched, which aims to restore the name, reputation and credibility of our country internationally, while highlighting it as a business and investment centre.
At the same time, a recent and particularly important development, the recently signed Strategic Dialogue between our country and the United States of America, places the Republic of Cyprus, a non-NATO member state, in a category of 30 countries with which the United States now maintains regular and structured cooperation, while creating positive conditions for cooperation, in addition to the energy and trade sectors, in the tourism sector as well. A representative of an American airline is in Cyprus these days making contacts to look into the issue of direct flights. At the same time, the relationship between our country and countries of the European Union, but also the entire European territory, especially countries that we believe have the potential to attract tourism, is being consolidated and strengthened. It was in this context that I recently visited Poland, an important market, this year possibly the second most important market for our country. And it is also through this reasoning that we decided to open a Diplomatic Mission within 2024 - we are in the final stage - to Kazakhstan, another country from which we believe we can attract tourism. Kazakhstan and Armenia, the two countries where diplomatic missions of the Republic of Cyprus will operate in 2024.
Extremely important and beneficial for the tourism of our country are also the actions related to both the tourist experience and the improvement of the tourism product. Both this year and during the last months of last year, the competent Deputy Ministry of Tourism announced seven incentive projects in this direction.
Two of them, funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, are aimed at the hotel industry. These are the "Incentive Plan for the creation and enrichment of health, wellness and accessibility rehabilitation facilities" and the "Grant Scheme for hotel and tourist accommodation upgrading projects in rural, mountain and remote areas".
I would like to take this opportunity and the presence of Members of Parliament to reiterate that for our Government, the full utilisation of the Recovery and Resilience Fund, from which the majority of the projects announced come, is a priority of the highest importance. And because many of the Recovery Fund Programs also require us to implement specific actions, the so-called prerequisites, I take this opportunity to call on all members of the House of Representatives, working together, to pass all of these prerequisites that require legislation.
In the context of the modernization of our country, but also two areas that also touch tourism and are key priorities of the Government are green transition and digital transformation.
And it is in this context that several incentive plans of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism aim to strengthen the effort to shift the industry towards the green transition. At the same time, a number of other decisions are also relevant, such as, for example, the preparation, for the first time, of a National Water Projects Plan, which was approved by the Council of Ministers last April, and which aims to solve the water shortage problems that were unfortunately identified in tourist areas in previous years.
In relation to digital transformation, providing digital services to local citizens and businesses to improve their daily lives is a priority for all of us
We are starting this year and will continue to evolve to provide digital solutions and services to Cypriot society through the new Digital Citizen application that we are implementing, in cooperation with the Greek Government, while putting into use the electronic identity tool for the electronic signature of legal documents.
2023 was admittedly a good year for tourism in our country, accompanied by record revenues and very good turnover for the vast majority of tourism businesses.
In 2024, although we face a number of challenges and adversities, tourism's performance to date has been satisfactory. But the most important thing, if you like, is the fact that our country's tourism has found its feet again. And I consider this to be particularly important.
You know very well that in tourism, and in the economy in general, everything is determined by the parameter of "competitiveness" and the trends prevailing in international tourism.
The dominant trend in Europe, and in many other regions of the world, is the prevalence of a model based on sustainable tourism development. It is the implementation of sustainable practices that now determines the choices of millions of travellers. We must take this into account.
The development of a tourism model based on sustainable tourism development that is also socially beneficial should therefore be our top priority. For us it is not only a question of competitiveness, it is also a question of rational management of natural resources, but also of responsibility towards future generations and the planet. After all, something we do not really talk about, climate change is here and we are all experiencing its effects every day.
In conclusion, I would like to thank you once again for the excellent cooperation, but primarily for the professionalism that characterizes the hotel industry of our country, which, despite the multiple and diverse challenges, remains highly competitive, with a very decisive contribution to the economy of our country.
(PM/EATH/NYAN)
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