Cyprus-Forum.com

[purdey]

I agree with the British link. However I believe Cyprus has always attracted the budget tourist. Price and big smile has always been the attraction. The Brits soon started deserting Spain when prices rose, Bulgaria, Eygpt, Turkey, seem to be the cheap destinations at the moment.

[Get Real!]

I agree with the British link. However I believe Cyprus has always attracted the budget tourist. Price and big smile has always been the attraction. The Brits soon started deserting Spain when prices rose, Bulgaria, Eygpt, Turkey, seem to be the cheap destinations at the moment.

Yeah, if you want a $2.5 meal and that, Cyprus is not the place anymore but France and Spain are still the most popular holiday countries in the world... for some reason.

[Spanish_spinne]

I Agree with Get Real; in Spain our prices are higer than yours (at a point I cannot believe the prices when I've booked my holidays in Cyprus) and it's still full of Tourists.
The Brits did not come as munch as they use to do , but we have plenty of French, Germans and Dutch.
I had been hearing this thing about the tourist will go to Bulgaria, or Turkey or anywhere for the last ten years, but it's still impossible to book a place to stay near the beach in August.
People that want cheap prices is not worth enough to worry, the ones you need to care, same as we've to are the ones that come with their families and waste lots of money and those ones will come again if they're well threated

[Sotos]

One of the reasons there are more going through the ROC's airports is due to visitors to the north ~ they have finally cottoned on to the fact that it's often cheaper and quicker to travel via the ROC .

So whilst the numbers of arrivals might be up their money is going to the north which is of no benefit to the south at all

Bill

No. Check the link I gave. The revenues from tourism are higher.

[Nikitas]

If we want the tourism industry to move ahead then every person working in it must do a six month tour of duty in the countries which send us tourists. The tour will include working in a factory for a few days, using their public transport, taxis, etc.

Only when you know where your visitors are coming from and realise that those few days they spend in your care are the only rest they get, then and only then you can provide decent facilities.

It is astounding to see how antiquities are promoted as if tourists give a damn about two thousand year old relics. A few do, but most want to rest and have a good time, with minimum hassle and in total security. And no, they do not want to hear about our local problems. They have enough of their own.

The above of course applies if we want more and better tourism. A far better course would be to plan on decreasing this source of degradation of the environment and hopefullly eradicate it altogether.

[miltiades]

Absolutely right Nikitas , only a tiny minority are likely to be interested in our ancient history or indeed in our modern one. The average Brit wants to gave a good time , plenty of sunshine with a few drinks , reasonable prices , friendly people around and polite as well , have a laugh and relax for a week or so. If children are involved then good facilities for children are important so that the parents can relax and see their children safely having a good time.
Most Cypriots incidentally have a misconception about British parents , they tend to think that the British mother especially is not as caring as the Cypriot one , how terribly wrong they are and I'm talking from experience.

I firmly believe that we should concentrate on our biggest market for tourists and improve whats on offer , the British market being by the far the biggest is the one we need to divert our efforts to increase .Emphasize that we all speak English , we drive on the left and we love the Brits to bits !!!!

[Mr. T]

Whether the figures that Sotos quotes include those landing en route for the north I don't know but the concern should not be for past numbers but for the future.

Tourists don't just spend money in hotels bars and restauarants but in shops, transport and a raft of other things,all of which bring employment
and money into the country and filters through to everyone in the end.

With the reduction of UK interest rates international investors have been withdrawing billions of £s from this country and placing it where they can get better returns. This has been a great factor in the decline of the £stg
against the euro. With the £ down some 15% on last year it is evident that travel to eurozone destinations WILL fall this year and with inflation high in Cyprus on top of existing high prices too vis-a-vis numerous competitors this is likely to be a double whammy in putting off potential visitors. Competition is world wide and even those not on tight budgets like value for money and in many countries the £ has appreciated against the local currency.

If tourist numbers are to remain anywhere near present levels money will need to be spend on trying to attract extra tourists from countries other than the UK.

I note on another thread a comment about the normal laws of economics not being followed in Cyprus. I noted this on a visit to the north at the end of last year. I could not believe that with fewer tourists around, rather than reducing prices to attract tourists into specific cafes etc prices were actually increased to keep profits up. This may help in the very short term but many touists were saying they would not return to the country again in view of the fact it was expensive and the price will be paid for such folly.

[Jerry]

Most British tourists won't realise how the Euro has affected prices in Cyprus until after they have been here, then they won't return. There is a lag in peoples reactions to inflationary events - watch what happens next year especially if tourists are put off by the water shoratge.

[Get Real!]

I think the worse case scenario is that all the fleebags who come solely to get drunk and vomit on the streets of Ayia Napa will be cut out of the market, and that can only be a blessing.

[purdey]

We agree on something GR...