"This State Department will manage, precisely, all issues related to our tourism, effectively coordinating all involved government services and private entities. The operation of the State Ministry, if and if adopted by the new Parliament that will operate after May 22, I want it to be January 1, 2017 ", said the President welcoming the annual general meeting of the Cyprus Tourism Association (STEK).
President Anastasiadis also pointed out that in the context of the Government's actions to enhance the tourist flow, the implementation of the plan to create a number of Visa Collection Centers in China in this country has begun, with the opening of the Center in China just this month. Beijing.
"Our intention is to expand to 15 destinations in China," he added. "Upgrading and promoting our country's tourism product abroad is a top national issue for the Government, with tourism operators being the direct and our most valuable partners ".
"The tangible results of our hard work and the hard work of all have already been seen," said the President of the Republic, recalling that in 2015, a milestone year in the global effort for economic recovery, Cypriot tourism once again proved its great value for the place, supporting with really remarkable performance our new development course.
Revenue, he noted, increased by 4,4%, from 2 billion euros in 2014 to 2,11 billion euros in 2015.
Referring to the work subsidy program in order to facilitate some hotels to remain open during the winter period, President Anastasiadis said that the program "unfortunately did not perform as expected, something that should concern entrepreneurs operating in the tourism sector."
The bet is to deal with seasonality
Both the Minister of Energy, Trade, Industry and Tourism George Lakkotrypis and the President of CTO Angelos Loizou underlined that the bet is the increase of tourist arrivals in the winter months.
"The increase is really important in the months in which we aim to have increases, which are basically the winter ones, because as we have said several times, the bet is to fight the seasonality", said Mr. Lakkotrypis in his statements after the meeting.
"Beyond that," he said, "I want to say one thing to all stakeholders: we are expected to welcome a lot of people this year and we need to act responsibly so that our guests have the best experiences."
Answering a relevant question, Mr. Lakkotrypis said the goal is to increase the increase in tourist arrivals in the winter months, October - November and March - April, since there are no large margins for increases in the summer months due to the limited number of available beds.
For his part, Mr. Loizou said that Cypriot tourism in the period April 2015 to March 2016 has achieved the greatest achievement, breaking the barrier of 2,7 million arrivals.
This is, he said, the largest number we have ever had, adding that this year's arrivals will reach record levels.
He stressed, however, that the degree of satisfaction of visitors with the Cypriot tourism product is also crucial, which is up to the hoteliers.
He said the bet this year is that the percentage increase in arrivals will be much greater than the small increases that may occur in the summer.
"The effort to extend the tourist season even with the contribution of external factors this year will have visible results", but stressed that "the stabilization of these results for the coming years and especially when the situation in competitive destinations normalizes will depend mainly from the degree of satisfaction with which this year's visitors will leave Cyprus ".
Vavlitis: State Department with the "right content"
In his speech before the assembly, the President of STEK, Akis Vavlitis stressed the importance of the Ministry of Tourism to have a structure that "includes in a coordinated and systematic way the consultation with tourism agencies that have the expertise."
He said that the CTO is governed by an outdated institutional framework and that we believe that as it works today, it has closed its life cycle, adding that STEK does not deal with the issue dogmatically.
"By paraphrasing a well-known phrase of the politicians about the bi-zonal federation, we are looking for a new scheme, whose name does not matter, it just has the right content," he said.
Among other things, Mr. Vavlitis called for the improvement of infrastructure projects and the promotion of the Casino - resort and golf courses to combat seasonality.
He also called for a reduction in VAT to 8% from the current 9%, a significant reduction in real estate tax, effective investment of overnight fees collected by the Municipalities and suggested the introduction of tax and other incentives that will help reorganize Tourism and Hotel companies with the aim of creating larger Organizations.
Source: KYPE