Cyprus-Forum.com

[Get Real!]

We want to offer our cuisine, hospitality, customs, traditions, 9,000 years and natural beauties to Turkish citizens.

You forgot to highlight "our"...

Oh, the shame of it all...

[DT.]

The tourism official is clearly bonkers. I wouldn't take this as a political issue at all. He's on the whacky-baccy. I suggest he spends a few minutes looking at income inequality, average wage levels, poverty levels in Turkey and then he'll realise the sheer daftness of his ambition.

Totally agree with you CopperLine...The tourism board has lost the plot..these people don't have money to feed themselves never mind spending on holidays..(same as the Syrians they expect as tourists)

Yeah, the police caught 27 of those tourists on the Nicosia Paralimni highway. They came in through the bases.

Must have hated their B&B in Kyrenia.

[Oracle]

Why pay to independently come on vacation to the "trnc" .. go and squat near the Anatolian plains the Turks wish to ethnically cleanse for their dam-building projects ... and you get your travel for free and maybe have a (formally ) GC house thrown in for good measure .. lest you think it was a return journey they put you on .....

[Nikitas]

Umit said:

"I for one have never heard anyone say that Salamis was built by Turks. "

No, they do not say it was built by Turks, but nowhere in the official guide and on some sites obviously affiliated to the TRNC, does it use the word Greek in connection to Salamis. IT even mentions king Evagoras while letting the reader think he was a Roman king.

The same goes for other places in the north- Lambousa, Engomi, Lapithos etc. The more educated tourists who come to the TRNC and read this dribble must laugh their heads off in private. It is like Stalin times but in the more comic version.

[RichardB]

Taken From Turkish Daily News 10 Jan 2008

The pillar of the Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus’ economy, tourism, is on shaky ground. In recent months 24 hotels have closed down and 2,000 people have been let off. Around 50 hotels will close down after New Year’s Eve. Northern Cyprus Hoteliers Association Chairman Turhan Beydağlı says an immediate strategy should be adopted in order to create an image of Cyprus as a country of universities and tourism

İSMAİL YANMAZ
ISTANBUL - Referans


Investments in new hotels, which have been booming in Turkish Cyprus for the last three years in the hope that the United Nations mediated plan to find a lasting peace on the divided island will be accepted, are facing serious trouble.

The tourism sector in Turkish Cyprus is in serious crisis with 24 hotels closed and 50 more on the brink of shutting down. The rejection by the Greek Cypriots of the U.N. mediated peace plan is not the only reason behind the optimistic expectations for the tourism sector not materializing. The continuation of the isolation of the island despite promises from the European Union that sanctions will be eased, coupled with insufficient marketing are also considered reasons for the crisis.

Around 2,000 people were laid off, as occupancy rates did not even reach 30 percent, last summer. “Tourism suffered a lot due to many mistakes made one after another. And the sector will collapse unless a new strategy is developed leaving aside gambling,” said Turhan Beydağlı, chairman of northern Cyprus Hoteliers Association. Gambling is legal in northern Cyprus.

When Turkish Cyprus voted in favor of the United Nation's plan called the Annan Plan the construction and tourism sectors experienced a boom. Yet, they have been going through troubled times lately. The buildings initially planned for sale to the British remain unsold. The hopes for direct flights between Ercan Airport and destinations in the U.K. have faded away. Although the total number of beds rose sharply, the occupancy rate is only 44 percent for hotels with casinos and 30 percent for those without.

Beydağlı said problems in the construction sector also affected the tourism sector. “Tourism regions are filled with incomplete hotel constructions. Such a sight does not befit a tourism center. The south of the island receives three million tourists annually and the average accommodation period is 11 days. We receive 300,000 people, who visit only the casinos on weekends. There are new facilities. But they shared a piece of the current pie in the market rather than creating a new market.”

Beydağlı also criticized the fact that the hotels appear in the tabloid press. “It was thought that having some artists over at the hotels as a promotion would help the business. We became a derogatory topic in the tabloid press. Mafia settling in the casinos badly hit another source of income – the universities – as well as tourism. Families do not send their children because of the bad image and costliness. Even the universities now lack students.”



Gamblers instead of tourists:

Turkish Cyprus Chamber of Commerce Chairman Hasan İnce said the worst mistake was made in the marketing strategy. Unqualified staff were used in expensive and poor quality services. İnce said instead of normal tourists the marketing strategy had gamblers as a target audience, adding, “a normal tourist cannot get a one-week reservation. Weekdays are not sold, because gamblers book for the weekends. This led to a bad image. Gambling is not a priority for Cyprus tourism. It is time we started marketing Cypriot history, nature and culture. We can hold promotion campaigns in Turkey's busiest airports on the Aegean and Mediterranean coastline for foreign tourists. The primary obstacle before tourism is transport which should be subsidized by the state.”

Its Seems they recieved 300,000 visitors in 2007 that constituted 30% occupancy rates , So lets assume maximum occupancy is 1000,000 per annum Then it should only take 71 years for the population of Turkey to visit (assuming everyone doesnt mind sharing rooms and beds.)Thats also assuming that the 20 or so hotels which are closing can re employ staff and re-open

And they say the ROC tourist industry is on its downers!!

[bill cobbett]

RichardB

Its Seems they recieved 300,000 visitors in 2007 that constituted 30% occupancy rates , So lets assume maximum occupancy is 1000,000 per annum Then it should only take 71 years for the population of Turkey to visit (assuming everyone doesnt mind sharing rooms and beds.)Thats also assuming that the 20 or so hotels which are closing can re employ staff and re-open

Will there be enough goats to go round ?

[RichardB]

Only if the goats dont mind sharing Bill

Wish I'd never mentioned the bloody things now

[RichardB]

'Come on dont play hard to get , theres another 70,000,000 visitors coming over'

[Oracle]

South of the border, tourism is well established, while on the north side there is comparatively nothing. You are more likely to see a wild donkey on the beach than a deckchair.

But prospectors are quick to see that nothing as a big fat something. My drive through the hinterland reveals empty expanses of land partially tiled for farming, dotted with scant villages and modest white mosques. Closer to the coast, improbable-looking signs pop up in the dust advertising luxury villas and holiday villages – many of them British-run companies. Cyprus's British expat community has its historical roots in the island as a British territory and military post. Today, in the north at least, it's more associated with ex-cons. Many of these new developments are attributed anecdotally to these characters. However, Turkish authorities are handing over more of these less savoury British residents for extradition.