Latest Report on Tourism in Cyprus

TOUR operators last week issued dire warnings of the impact that cheap flights would have on the ourism 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 raditional 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, ourists 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 o 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 han package holidays and resort hotels. Who contributes more to he economy: the package tourist who books an all-inclusive holiday of which the hotel and he 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 o 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 he 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 hemselves. 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 our 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.