The Mayor of Ayia Napa, Giannis Karousos, presented his proposals for the success of the Ministry of Tourism through a letter. In his proposals, Giannis Karousos focuses on increasing the Budget for the Ministry of Tourism, GoDigital & Branding and the Transition to electronic promotion, education and the creation of an emergency plan.
Read the letter of the Mayor of Ayia Napa as it is:
After decades of efforts and at the request of the tourism industry, the Ministry of Tourism was created. Cyprus, with Tourism being its main industry and the "lever" of restarting its economy in 1974 and 2013, acquired its own Ministry of Tourism and a political leader with increased responsibilities.
That is why the bar has been set very high. The State Department should leave behind anything that is related to or reminiscent of the Cyprus Tourism Organization and start from scratch. This effort must be built on a solid foundation and send the message that there is a truly new beginning. Since the beginning is half of everything, on behalf of Ayia Napa, the largest tourist Municipality of Cyprus, I would like to list 3 + 1 proposals that will ensure the success of the Ministry of Tourism.
Increase the Budget for the Ministry of Tourism
The State Department will have to demand from the Ministry of Finance a budget commensurate with its importance and the contribution of Tourism to the economy of Cyprus in order to be able to implement the National Tourism Strategy, which requires billions of investments in Tourism and infrastructure. Today, Tourism contributes about 3 billion. from 19 billion. of our country's GDP, which represents a percentage of about 16%. The budget of the Ministry of Tourism, however, is only 55 million, the majority of which are distributed in salaries and operating expenses. The 55 million represent much less than 1% (0,0065%) of the state budget expenditures which are about 8 billion. Tourism with a direct contribution to GDP of 16% certainly deserves a higher budget in a tourist country and in my opinion should be at least 300 million per year. The political decisions have been taken with the creation of the State Ministry and now it should be given the appropriate financial possibilities. According to the National Strategy for Tourism, an investment of about 8 billion will be required from the state. until 2030 in planning, in tourism infrastructure projects but also for the creation of tourist experiences.
Go Digital & Βranding: Go to online promotion
The immediate priority of the State Department should be the transition to electronic promotion and promotion and the use of "smart" ways of promotion as the traditional standard methods have been overcome. A strategic plan for electronic promotion and new branding should be drawn up immediately with experts, and then a tender should be announced for the implementation of its implementation by experts in this field. Online promotion is targeted and measurable. In fact, if we compare the official pages of promoting tourist countries on a well-known social networking site (Facebook) we will see that Cyprus has 155,000 followers, Malta 909,000, Australia 8cm and Turkey with 5m, so there is a lot of work in this area. The Tourism portals of the last two countries, Australia.com and hometurkey.com are considered worldwide as the most successful and optimal examples of Branding and e-promotion of destinations. Therefore, an appropriate budget should be given only for e-promotion and Branding (at least 20 million per year and increase at a constant rate on Tourism revenues per year). If Cyprus manages to have millions of followers on the internet and social media, every message and every post will reach tens of millions of internet users.
Education
The State Department should take similar initiatives, in order to educate both citizens about the importance of Tourism and entrepreneurs. A tourist awareness course should be included in schools in order to pass the message to our children on the importance of Tourism. Also, before issuing any tourist operating license, at least the director of each company must attend specific training seminars in relation to Tourism and the new ways of management.
Emergency plan
The Ministry of Tourism should prepare an contingency plan which it can use in case of crisis and with the appropriate budget. Unfortunately today we are dependent on geopolitical developments and we have a bad experience from the past. There is uncertainty about Brexit today, and several other geopolitical risks, and we need to be prepared for any eventuality.
At present, the only "natural gas" that Cyprus has is that of Tourism and in fact it has proven to be more than enough for the restart and development of the economy. Now, with the Ministry of Tourism, everyone's expectations are high and I wish all the best to the new Deputy Minister, whom we will support with all our forces for the implementation of the objectives of the Ministry of Tourism.