The State Department of Tourism is not going to give up, nor does it intend to change its national strategy for tourism, as a result of the sad epidemiological picture, worldwide, mainly due to the Omicron mutation.
Savvas Perdios in an interview with Stockwatch, focuses mainly on his references to the bases that enter the tourist Cyprus to attract new markets and visitors who aim, as he pointed out, at the specific forms of tourism.
With the deep vision that characterizes him, as well as the founders of the local tourism industry, Mr. Perdios, estimates that 2022 will be a better tourist year, compared to the time we said goodbye two days ago.
He states that he is optimistic and reveals that the key to optimism is the flexibility provided to the State Department to manage the promotion of tourist Cyprus, depending on the data that will be created, away from the projection barriers, which belonged to other eras.
The World Tourism Organization estimates that the full recovery of the sector will begin gradually in 2024.
S. Perdios considers that Cyprus is at the upper end of this assessment.
"It is our main goal, tourism to do better than 2021, something that does not change at the moment," he said.
"Hard work," he adds, "is done by everyone and intensified."
Give us the weapon of health protocol
He is convinced that if the State Department has in its hands since the beginning of the year, the updated health protocol for entry into the Republic of Cyprus, "it will be a decisive paper that will help record better results for tourism in 2022".
He explains that the health protocol for entering the KD, contributed decisively to the good results in the second half of 2021.
It is important, according to Mr. Perdios, to start the flow of tourists from abroad much earlier this year, maybe from next April.
"Therefore, we do not have many months ahead of us, for this and decisions will have to be taken soon by the Council of Ministers, in relation to the health protocol as it will give us the weapon we need to fight for a better tourist year."
"With this protocol," he added, "we will be able to inform our partners abroad in a timely manner, whether they are airlines or tour operators.
The scheduled view does not change
The promotion of the tourism product is a key link in the tourism chain and Mr. Perdios has invested and will continue to invest significant funds through digital promotion.
"As a state ministry, we have turned the page in terms of promoting our tourism. "We have left the era when we advertised, simply to bring tourism to the country", he said and adds:
"The Ministry of Tourism is not going to differentiate the planned process of promoting our tourism product abroad."
He emphasizes that the advertising campaign of Cyprus is mostly done digitally and this, as he explains, "gives us the opportunity to be flexible. This means that we will be able to change countries, targeting, ages, etc. "
He adds that the advertisement is now targeted, all year round, in order to create more knowledge about what Cyprus is and what its product is.
"Our campaign is expanded and does not depend on how many cases there are, how many mutations there are and in what condition the epidemiological picture of a country is."
The Undersecretary estimates that in two to three months, several Europeans, and not only, "will be potential customers of our tourism industry."
Mixed emotions, optimism remains
Asked to comment on the nightmarish numbers of cases and how they affect the promotion of tourism, Mr. Perdios talks about mixed feelings.
"On the one hand, because in the second half of 2021 the results were extremely good, if we take into account the conditions that existed due to the pandemic, and on the other hand, because the Omicron mutation causes a large number of cases."
Despite the unfavorable climate caused by the epidemiological picture of the country, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, holding a small basket, appears optimistic and estimates that the Omicron mutation is a problem, as he says, which may not jeopardize the forecasts for tourism in 2022. .
Openings in new markets with positive prospects
A delegation from the Ministry of Tourism is expected to visit Russia in mid-January to inform the tourism partners about the health protocol for entering the KD.
Mr. Perdios emphasizes that the support to the traditional markets will continue.
"After all, these countries are the hand that has been feeding us for so many years and we are not going to cut it," he said.
"We are working for the opening of new markets, something that we saw happening in 2021 from countries such as: Poland, Ukraine, Israel, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, while France has taken its first steps, Italy itself. "We look forward to seeing the Nordic countries return in 2022."
New forms of tourism and the impact
The Ministry of Tourism has something to say about the new forms of tourism that it promotes and about those that will follow.
Tourist Cyprus, according to Mr. Perdios, entered the map of special forms of tourism.
In the context of his recent presentation on the project and the deeds of the State Department in 2021, he referred to 14 new forms of tourism, which also attract specialized tourists, who in the past were looking for other destinations.
"The first writing samples have already arrived. "This effort will continue," he said.
Referring to religious tourism, Mr. Perdios said that it will be included in a more general context of a special form of tourism because, as he explained, "it is not so easy to attract visitors, only for religious tourism".
"The enrichment of the list in this special form of tourism will be continuous and the results will be more tangible from year to year. "It is an important investment that we will continue to use," he said.
Municipalities and communities are strengthened with 15 new projects
Mr. Perdios stressed that the competent ministry intends to announce new subsidy plans in the coming weeks to subsidize municipalities and communities in order to upgrade their tourism product.
These are 15 projects which are also foreseen through the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability.
The plans will be announced on January 17.
The Undersecretary said that in this context there are plans to upgrade the beaches in order to replace the bed umbrellas with something more modern, beautiful and easy to use.
"There are other projects in addition to the communities, which aim to upgrade the craft and gastronomy workshops, infrastructure projects for people with disabilities and plans to improve the aesthetics in communities, something that we lack as a country," he said.
All these plans, according to Mr. Perdios, are expected to bring to the country's tourism economy about € 80 million over the next four to five years.
"Therefore, these are plans that will continue for the next 5 years. "They have been tested, they have succeeded and they will stay," he stressed.
Mr. Perdios also emphasizes the image of the country, which begins and ends with the word "cleanliness".
"Respect for cleanliness and nature is a cornerstone of culture. "It is a factor that gives prestige to the island and its people," he noted.
It is noted that the plan to strengthen domestic tourism for 2021, cost the state ministry € 5,7 million.
This plan will be extended until March 2022.
At the end of 2021, the action plan of the National Tourism Strategy was implemented to 95%.
Pleasant surprise Christmas villages
Referring to the institution of Christmas villages, Mr. Perdios said that the institution will continue and expand as the evaluation of the results so far is very important.
"We feel that this institution will give us the opportunity to place Cyprus, as a full-time tourist destination and our intention of the year, the five villages that have been included in this project, to become 10 and 15".
Asked how a community is evaluated to be selected as a Christmas village, Mr. Perdios explained:
"It should receive the appropriate certification from the Ministry of Tourism with a specific quality standard which will reward the villages that have environmental awareness, tourism education, proper infrastructure, cleanliness and respect for nature."
"Villages that meet the above standards will also be able to receive the grant to become Christmas villages," he said.
He added that the goal of the state ministry is for the Christmas villages to open the curtain of the holidays from the beginning of November and not in the middle of December and to last until January 20.
"The reason is that the Christmas holidays for Russians and Ukrainians end on January 20," he explained.
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