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16/02/07 -
Tourism in Cyprus |
Tour operators last week issued dire warnings of the
impact that cheap flights would have on the tourism industry in Cyprus, saying they were only good for people
renting expat properties and tourists travelling to the north.
Taking a closer look at the gripes, however, one thing becomes clear. Cheap flights are certainly bad news for tour
operators, undercutting the savings offered by the traditional package holiday. They are also bad news for hotels,
who have traditionally relied on guaranteed block bookings from the tour operators selling all-inclusive packages.
For hotels, it means adapting to a new reality, but the future need not be as bleak as it is portrayed. Excluding
expats staying in their own homes or friends and relatives visiting, tourists booking flight only deals still need
somewhere to stay. And if they book direct with a hotel, the hotel will receive a better rate than it was getting
from a tour operator.
Some will make the transition and thrive; others will cling on to the shrinking package tour market, with its
soulless animations and canteen like restaurants, and eventually go down.
What cheap flights will certainly not destroy is tourism as a whole. Quite the contrary. It is arrogant of the tour
operators to reduce the fortunes of the entire industry to their own. There is more to tourism than package holidays
and resort hotels. Who contributes more to the economy: the package tourist who books an all-inclusive holiday of
which the hotel and the airline only receive a small proportion, or the British retiree, who buys a home and a car,
spends six months of the year in Cyprus, shops in a local supermarket, goes to local restaurants, pays utility bills
and invites friends and relatives to come and stay?
The two simply don’t stand comparison. Tourism is evolving, and in a way that is of benefit to the broader Cypriot
economy, easing its over-dependence on a single, volatile sector. Indeed, one of the biggest engines of growth over
the past decade has been the real estate and building industry – a direct result of the soaring second home market
in Cyprus.
If Cyprus can shift a proportion of its tourists into homeowners, it is ensuring itself against the impact of
factors like regional instability or health scares, which frighten away the one-off visitors but are of no concern
to the seasoned resident.
Indeed, the figures speak for themselves. Last year, tourism arrivals fell, but revenue was up. What’s more, while
tourism has been stagnant, GDP growth has been buoyant, some of that undoubtedly fuelled by expatriates’
contribution to non-tourism sectors like retail and even business.
The outlook may be bleak for tour operators and some hotels, but for the broader industry cheap flights can only be
good news, making Cyprus more accessible in an increasingly flexible economy. |
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