Photo by Valentina Kovalchuk
Last week, the chairman of the board of directors of the Cyprus Tourism Organization, Fotis Fotiou, spoke about the prospects for the future of the Cyprus tourism industry. According to him, the Russian direction remains the main one in the industry – and it is on citizens of the CIS countries that the country's authorities are pinning their hopes.
According to the Cyprus Tourism Organization, in 2005 a total of about 2.5 million foreign tourists visited the country, which is 6% more than in 2004. The absolute leader among them is Great Britain – almost 1.4 million people. In second place is Germany (over 180 thousand), in third – Greece (130 thousand). Russia ranks fourth in terms of the number of tourists – almost 98 thousand people, which is 16.5% more than in 2004. Nevertheless, the level of the era of visa-free holidays in Cyprus has not been reached by Russians (in 2003, 105 thousand Russians visited Cyprus – only 5 thousand less than Germans).
Our tourists compensate for their modest place in the world ranking of Cyprus visits by the level of their holiday spending. In this indicator, they surpass both Germans and Britons, not to mention Greeks. According to the Cyprus Tourism Organization, in 2005 each tourist from the republics of the former Soviet Union left an average of 484 Cypriot pounds (about $1,000) in Cyprus, while the average holidaymaker from England – 426.5 pounds, and a tourist from Germany – 368 pounds.
It is no surprise that the Cypriot authorities are trying to do everything possible to bring back tourists lost due to the introduction of visas after Cyprus joined the EU in 2004. They intend to focus on easing the visa regime, said Fotis Fotiou. "Already today, neither tourists nor tour operators practically face problems obtaining Cypriot visas. Consular service employees handle both within 24 hours of application submission," he noted. However, soon, Fotiou promised, obtaining a Cypriot tourist visa will be even easier. According to him, the Cypriot government is developing a whole program to ease the visa regime. "There are already a number of considerations on this matter, which will be announced no later than in 2-3 weeks," he assured.
However, Fotis Fotiou has already revealed some of the anticipated innovations. Above all, the practice of applying for visas via the Internet will be significantly expanded. It is possible that our tourists will be able to obtain Cypriot visas directly in Cyprus – upon arrival at the airport, Fotis Fotiou indicated.
In addition, the practice of issuing multiple-entry visas will be expanded to the maximum. True, as usual, the first to receive them will be "limited contingents" of travelers: businessmen, athletes, diplomats. However, later, especially after Cyprus joins the Schengen Agreement, which, according to Fotis Fotiou's estimate, will happen in 2-2.5 years, this practice will be expanded. Thus, the Cypriots intend to prepare in advance for the inevitable difficulties associated with issuing Schengen visas for travel to Cyprus.
All this, according to the Cypriot authorities, will make it possible in the next 3-4 years to increase the flow of Russian tourists to 200 thousand people per year and bring Russia to the second place in terms of visitor numbers to the country, Fotis Fotiou reported. Already in 2006, Cyprus expects a 15% increase in the arrival of Russian tourists, which will finally allow reaching the 2003 level, clarified Dimitris Dimitriou, director of the Moscow office of the Cyprus Tourism Organization.
Other measures to attract foreigners will also be taken. Currently, large sums (up to $4 million) are allocated for advertising holidays in Cyprus. At the same time, the Cypriot authorities promise to "qualitatively improve the tourism product" – introduce new services (golf courses, marinas), new tours (medical, agritourism, and religious tours), and build two new airports next to the existing ones. The government intends to strongly "offer motivation" to hotel owners (especially 4* and 5*) to improve the quality of customer service. At the same time, for the latter, as Fotiou promised, the improvement in service quality will not result in higher prices.
The domestic tourism community shares this point of view only partially. "When any new services appear or their quality improves, the final product inevitably becomes more expensive," said Dmitry Danilenko, vice president of the information service "Banko". In addition, there are other factors in the growth of tour package prices. And above all, due to the already occurred increase in the cost of aviation fuel by 20%. One way or another, the cost of a trip to Cyprus has already increased by €100, as Gazeta.Ru was told at one of the travel companies.