The effort of the Ministry of Shipping is for the Cyprus-Greece ferry connection to be put into operation in the summer of 2020. The issue of the connection was discussed before the Committee on Energy, Trade, Industry and Tourism, where Deputy Minister of Shipping Natasa Pileidou Perdios.
Ms. Pileidou said that the feasibility study of the ferry connection has been completed and that the approval of the state aid that will be needed is expected and then the bidding process will follow to find the appropriate entrepreneur who will undertake this project.
The state will subsidize the connection but not its commercial part.
Ms. Pileidou said that the effort is to complete the process before the summer to implement the connection in 2020.
The ticket will be cheaper than the air ticket. The issue of the intermediate station, such as Rhodes, is also examined.
The frequency of the route will be once a week from May to September and in the winter months once every fortnight. The journey will take 30 hours.
The most probable port that will serve the route in Cyprus will be that of Limassol.
The Speaker of the Parliament, Dimitris Syllouris, briefly chaired the Committee and referred, among other things, to Egypt's interest in expanding the ferry connection to Alexandria, an issue that arose during the recent visit of a parliamentary delegation to this country.
Mr. Perdios said that the ferry connection is important for inbound tourism from Greece and noted that there is room for a ferry connection with other countries such as Israel, Lebanon and Egypt and said that if these efforts succeed, the Ministry intends to contribute with its own efforts in terms of joint packages with neighboring countries.
The ministry is working to identify specific issues related to joint packages with neighboring countries, he said.
Mr. Perdios said that there is a decrease in arrivals and revenues from tourism this year with the main causes of Brexit and the loss of air seats from Germany, while the Russian market, which is moving at the same levels this year, may face problems due to of the rapid growth of Turkey.
For this reason, he said, the State Department is working to attract other markets as well as joint programs with other countries.
So far the reduction is almost 1% and it is predicted to be a difficult year in 2020 with the Ministry of State taking measures.
Revenues from tourism can be reduced by 5% this year.
Mr Perdios briefed the Commission on the ten-year business plan which has been prepared and submitted to the Council of Ministers in June with a short-term, medium-term and long-term plan.
The Chairman of the Committee Andreas Kyprianou said that the news with the ferry connection is good and the issue is on the right track. There is hope, he said, that this line can be put into operation in the next tourist season.
The study in relation to the connection has been completed and there is a discussion with the state aid registrar to see how the success of the financing of the line that will help the tourist product can be completed, he said.
He said the Undersecretary of Tourism stressed the State Department's interest in connecting and the joint packages to be developed with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel. Mr. Kyprianou welcomed the completion of the operational plan of the Ministry of State and said that the Commission will be informed about this plan on September 17 by the Deputy Minister.
Mr. Kyprianou also referred to the completion of the discussion of the draft law on abusive clauses in business contracts. The commission's decision, he said, is as the bill goes into plenary on Friday, extending protection from abusive clauses to micro-enterprises. Currently, the legislation that protects the consumer from abusive clauses is in force and this protection is extended with the specific law proposal to small businesses as well.
Mr. Kyprianou referred to the other issue discussed and concerns the possibility of the Council of Ministers to extend the investigation period for the discovery of hydrocarbon deposits to the respective licensee under specific conditions. The issue is being voted on as a matter of urgency in plenary on Friday.
He said that the extension of the investigation period has no time limits, it will be unlimited until the companies complete their obligations under the agreement. He noted that this is an issue that is not only about energy but also has a political aspect.
In his statements, AKEL MP Costas Costa said that his party had been warning for the last four years that under no circumstances should the positive performance in tourism cause complacency but that the Government should proceed to solve the many and serious problems in the sector. Mr. Costa said that the Government must proceed with all the actions to solve the problems and wished that the study and the proposals prepared by AKEL be used, a study that covers the whole spectrum of tourism activity.
Regarding the ferry connection, he said that it is inconceivable for people to depend on private airlines to travel and said that AKEL believes that the reopening of the sea passenger transport between Limassol and Piraeus will increase the tourist flow and welcomed the fact that the Undersecretary of Shipping took the issue warmly as she said and promotes it.
Regarding the Commission's bill to protect individuals and micro-enterprises from abusive clauses in business contracts, he said that the Commission today, despite the reactions, promoted it in plenary on Friday and expressed the hope that no party would ask for the vote to be postponed. the President of the Republic should not proceed with her reinstatement if he really wants to protect the citizens and not the banks, as he said.
DIKO MP Angelos Votsis spoke about the issue of the ferry connection, expressing the hope that it will be implemented next summer. On tourism, he said the small reduction was due to Brexit and the loss of seats by Germany, and that the business plan would be presented to the Commission in September so that the Commission could monitor the progress of the targets.
EDEK MP Elias Myrianthous referred to the 1% reduction in the tourist product and said that a further reduction is expected in the peak summer months. In 2020, he said, the Commission was told that efforts were being made to increase flights to transport tourists mainly from Central Europe.
Regarding the bill on hydrocarbons, he said that the Council of Ministers will be given the right to give the companies the extension to complete their research program through justified positions. Regarding the abusive clauses, he said that the Commission unanimously leads the bill on Friday in plenary, a proposal that was completed with the contribution of the Financial Commissioner.
Source: KYPE