The problems that concern the hotel sector in the province of Famagusta were discussed in today's meeting of PASYXE Famagusta with the Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios.
During the meeting that took place at the Aeneas hotel in Ayia Napa and was attended by the President, Doros Takkas, and the members of PASYXE Famagusta, a number of problems and issues that concern the hoteliers in view of the start of the new tourist season were presented to the Deputy Minister of Tourism.
In particular, the problems of seasonality, noise pollution and nuisance caused by four-wheeled vehicles and large-capacity motorcycles, lack of staff, unlicensed AirBnB facilities, operating licenses, the maintenance of the tourist flow in the same numbers, the low budget of the Ministry of Tourism, while the establishment of a crisis committee on the issue of tourism was also proposed.
The Undersecretary of Tourism, in turn, welcomed the meeting stating that such meetings with the provincial hotel councils are important and should be held more often, while he said he was ready to work hard for the Undersecretary of Tourism and to further upgrade the tourism product.
Perdios: “The tourism sector is sensitive”
In statements after a meeting of PASYXE Famagusta with the Deputy Minister of Tourism Savva Perdio to discuss the problems faced by hoteliers in the province of Famagusta, Mr. Perdios thanked PASYXE Famagusta for the invitation and noted that hand any concerns and suggestions for the future. We feel in practice the support, interest and love of PASYXE, which is very important because our sector is so sensitive that it needs understanding, mutual respect and mutual assistance between all of us. Yes, this is a difficult year and if I talk in general about the future of tourism in Cyprus, I must say that I am optimistic because first of all I see this understanding that exists ".
"Thank you again and as we said during our meeting, it would be good for such meetings to take place every quarter because new issues will be constantly discussed. Our intention is to be by your side and because tourism is alive, we must be alive too. ”
Asked about the challenges facing free Famagusta in the field of tourism, Mr. Perdios replied that "for me the biggest challenge in general, not only for the Ministry of Tourism, which the region is facing, is what we have been saying for so many years, the seasonality. This is where many (problems) start if we manage to see this piece in the coming years, there are many things we can do to alleviate this issue. I believe that a large number of issues that Mr. Takkas also mentioned will be resolved, let's start from there ".
Asked to mention what are the pan-Cypriot challenges that the Ministry of Tourism is called to face, Mr. Perdios said that “if we are at last year's levels we will be happy. It is known that the German market will show a decline due to the fact that we lost these positions since the closure of Cobalt, Air Berlin and Germania, but at the same time and although the British market is currently volatile, it seems that the Russian market will be at good levels. We now hear from the Tourism Report in Ukraine that we will have an increase from there, but they are not terrible numbers but it shows prospects for the future and not to forget the countries that are close to us, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. Next week the State Department and various sectors of tourism will go to the tourism fair in Jordan and then to Lebanon, we feel very good that in these challenges we have this year, to have all realized the importance of extending our aspirations to other markets . This is very important, all together to work hard in this direction and only good can lead.
Asked whether the budget of the Ministry of State should be increased, Savvas Perdios answered that "in the tourism exhibition of Berlin 2020 we want to launch the new brand of the country. It goes without saying that the study, creation and launch of the material will require money and in itself needs support in terms of branding launch. From there and beyond in these almost 3 months that we are in the State Department we have seen some points that are of special importance regarding the budget, we have recorded them, they will be included in our budget that we will present in the coming months and we hope that there will be appropriate response because tourism is really something very important for us, we all know that it is important for our country and now we are going to attract new markets, new ages and together we must realize that in order to do this, they must first be informed these areas and these ages what Cyprus is because they may not know.
"If you want to leave some traditional markets that know you, for example Britain and Russia, you have to inform, the information needs funds and we are optimistic that it is something we will have."
Doros Takkas: "Need for an increase in the budget of the State Ministry"
On his part, the President of PASYXE Doros Takkas stated that today we hosted the Deputy Minister of Tourism in the province of Famagusta, we had a briefing on current issues of tourism, as we are always very happy with the work of the Ministry although we are in the early stages. We expect a lot from the Ministry of State and I am sure that our new Deputy Minister will always be on the side of tourism to solve everything that has plagued us in recent years.
Asked if there seems to be an immediate solution to these problems, Mr. Takkas replied that "at this stage we have the understanding of the Deputy Minister and I am sure he will launch them".
In a related question, the President of PASYXE Famagusta said that “this year presents some difficulties, countries such as Germany in particular, Britain with Brexit, but Russia is a country that especially for our region may fill these gaps. and we will be very satisfied if we have the numbers of 2018 and 2019 ”.
He also said that PASYXE strongly feels the need to increase the budget of the Ministry of Tourism, especially this year which is a year of challenges and at the end of the day the Ministry to have a budget commensurate with its offer.
To another question, Mr. Takkas answered that “today we referred to the problems of lack of staff, seasonality, issues of noise pollution that need immediate solution and other issues that plague the area. We had the full understanding of the Deputy Minister and we are very grateful for that and we hope for better days ".
Famagusta.News
