Undersecretary of State Konstantinos Petridis, during the presentation of the bill for the establishment of the Ministry of Tourism, to the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, stated that the creation of the Undersecretaries aims to formulate policy, implement it and control vital sectors of the economy with specialization in these areas and with flexibility.
Mr. Petridis added that the Undersecretaries will be appointed by the President of the Republic and will be accountable directly to the President of the Republic, will have an independent budget and administrative autonomy.
The note to the Commission also states that the Undersecretaries of State will attend the meetings of the Council of Ministers and will be able to submit direct policy proposals, but will not be able to vote and submit direct legislative proposals, due to a constitution, which will be submitted by other Ministries. , depending on the competence.
The Undersecretary said that the study of the way of development of the tourism product showed that there is a weakness in the imposition of horizontal policies, which are necessary for the implementation of an integrated national strategy for tourism.
He said that there are scattered or overlapping responsibilities that do not allow solving the competitiveness problems faced by the tourism sector.
Mr. Petridis added that the Undersecretaries will not create an expansion of the state, but will be an evolution of departments and do not require increased administrative costs. On the contrary, he continued, if the overlaps are eliminated, there can be savings.
For the CTO, which will be abolished, an agreement has been reached and those of the employees who want will be able to join a voluntary retirement plan, he stated that the hourly wage regime is not regulated by law and an agreement was reached with the trade unions
He also said that the prospects of the tourism product are much bigger than they are today.
Cyprus remained stagnant in arrivals, despite huge efforts to break the arrivals record, it continued and expressed the view that without horizontal responsibilities the competitiveness problem can not be solved.
He also said that a careful policy would enhance competitiveness, something that the CTO, whose board consists of political appointees of part-time members, could not promote.
Conflicting positions and philosophies are often presented to the Board, which creates problems in policy making.
He said that due to the complexity of the state structure, the CTO has no responsibilities for developing a tourism strategy, has no measurable goals or a crisis response mechanism.
Furthermore, he stated that the CTO made a study that should be implemented in its transformation into a State Ministry.
The Undersecretary also stated that the Cypriot tourism product is characterized by seasonality, is a one-dimensional product and depends on two markets, that of Russia and that of the United Kingdom.
Mr. Petridis also mentioned that the tourist countries have a Minister of Tourism and there is a complete separation of policy making and marketing.
He added that the marketing is done by companies with a Board of Directors, which consists of tourism operators.
Despite the objections, in the right direction
The Undersecretary stated that during the dialogue with the parties, AKEL expressed objections to the assignment of marketing to a private company and therefore it will not be implemented at this stage.
Regarding the transformation of the CTO into a State Department, he said that the Board of Directors and the nine political appointments will be abolished, with a full-time political leader under the President of the Republic, and explained that these will not be done overnight in another, others the evolution will begin after the law is passed.
He also said that at the moment the CTO has 20 committees that meet and more meet than produce work and policy, adding that these will be reduced to seven.
The CTO representative told the Commission that the Ministry of State was a necessity and that it should have been done in 2013 with the onset of the financial crisis. "We believe that the existence of a State Department will strengthen all actions in the right direction," he added.
The representative of the CCCI stated that the Chamber agrees with the creation of a State Ministry. He added that it is imperative to create and stated that if there are gaps or malfunctions are found to be filled along the way.
The Representative of the Legal Service said that the establishment of the Undersecretaries is based on the institution of the Undersecretary despite the President and therefore there is no constitutional obstacle.
The representative of PASYXE said that there is a need for a State Ministry. He added that there is insufficient implementation of the agreements, not due to lack of will in the CTO, but due to lack of competence. He also called on the Members of Parliament to surround the bill with love and affection so that we can upgrade our tourism product.
The representative of STEK said that she considers the creation of the State Ministry very important.
"We are ready to support the effort. We believe that it will achieve the goals of all, to upgrade the product and to have the corresponding revenues ", he said and stated at the disposal of the MPs and the parties for clarifications regarding the structure of the Ministry of State.
The representative of the Association of Travel Agents of Cyprus (ACTA) said that the position of the Association is from 1984 that it would be beneficial to establish a Ministry of State.
He added that the CTO was trying to solve many problems, but had no responsibilities.
He said that many accommodations and hotels do not have a license and expressed the view that a state ministry with extensive responsibilities will be able to offer solutions. He also referred to the need to set up a tourist police.
The SEC representative stated that the SEC supported the change by setting conditions for the evolution of the CTO. He added that it is part of the change and at the same time took care to ensure the rights of employees. He said he clearly supports the effort as staff have been secured and said the staffing agreement should accompany the passage of the bill into law.
The PEO representative said that no one disagrees that changes are needed, but, he said, the PEO disagrees with the dissolution of the CTO. An institution must be set up to draw on the experience of the Agency's Board of Directors. He stated that the employees need to be registered and we suggest that the horizontal work in conjunction with the CTO.
Source: SigmaLive