‘Stop hiking prices while we’re handing out money’
By Stefanos Evripidou
FINANCE MINISTER Charilaos Stavrakis yesterday called on hoteliers and restaurants to stop the “unacceptable” practice of increasing prices at a time when the government was pumping money into the industry to make it more competitive.
The minister highlighted that the increasing prices did not help tourist arrivals, which were on a worryingly downward trend, with the first days of June registering a 12 per cent decrease. The fall in arrivals was concerning the government, he said.
“For the first four months, January to April, we had a reduction of about eight per cent. Unfortunately, in May this went above ten per cent, and the first days of June showed a reduction (in tourist arrivals) of around 12 per cent. So there is a slight deterioration, which of course, altogether we will have to try to overturn,” said Stavrakis.
The minister criticised the hoteliers for on the one hand, seeking tax cuts and incentives from the government to weather the storm of the global financial crisis which has hit tourism hard, and then on the other, refusing to lower prices and in some cases even raising them.
“A big problem at the moment is the question of prices of hotels and restaurants. Based on official statistics for inflation in the first five months, it is clear that the hoteliers are increasing their prices, same as the Cypriot restaurants,” he said.
“All this at a time when the state made a very generous gesture, contributing €52m to the tourism sector, exactly to make it more competitive,” he added.
The minister pulled no punches when he identified where the problem lay regarding the tourism industry’s competitiveness.
“It’s unacceptable in this period that some hoteliers, instead of lowering prices, are increasing them,” said Stavrakis.
Tourists have long complained that air fares, coupled with hotel, restaurant and general entertainment prices in Cyprus are above and beyond what they would pay for similar tourist destinations.
This paper is constantly inundated with letters from visiting tourists complaining that they have been forced to abandon Cyprus as a tourist destination after years of coming here for other shores, having been priced out of the island.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=46198
And.
Tourist decline provokes blame game
By Elias Hazou
HOTELIERS, trade unions and government officials were at each other’s throats yesterday over declining tourist arrivals, hotel prices and layoffs - though everyone agreed on one point: the industry is in trouble.
The row was sparked on Saturday, when Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said the tourist product in general had got more expensive by seven per cent during the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year.
Stavrakis’ claims, which he repeated yesterday, flew in the face of expectations that prices should have come down in the wake of a €50 million stimulus package for the industry approved in April. The government measures included the abolition of overnight stay fees for the period between May 2009 and April 2010 (a fee charged by local authorities to hotels), the reduction in landing fees and other fees imposed by airline companies on airports, and a VAT reduction from eight per cent to five per cent for hotel packages.
The implication was that greedy hoteliers had kept the cash for themselves.
Businessmen were quick to hit back, telling the Finance Minister in no uncertain terms that he had got his maths all wrong.
In fact, claimed the Cyprus Association of Hotel Managers (PASYDIXE), hotel prices had actually fallen. According to their own number-crunching, there has been a 10 per cent drop, an improvement that goes beyond over the government’s cash boost.
The association said the minister had wrongly cited a price index employed by the Statistical Service that lists restaurants, canteens, cafeterias, fast-food and delivery outlets, as well as hotels. The latter’s contribution to the index was “marginal”, the association said.
The Association of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises (STEK) reacted far more aggressively, voicing grief over Stavrakis’ comments, calling them “arbitrary and unfortunate”.
STEK went on to advise the minister to choose his words more carefully in the future, because giving out misleading information about prices could “undermine” the tourist industry.
Lest the blame be put on them, the Association of Owners of Recreation Establishments (PASIKA), which represents restaurants, bars and clubs, said they couldn’t lower their prices even if they wanted to.
“Under the present circumstances, no price cuts are justified because all the items needed for a restaurant have become more expensive,” said the head of the association Fanos Leventis. PASIKA says business in night spots has taken a nosedive in recent months.
The row raged as the Cyprus Tourism Organisation released figures showing an alarming drop in tourist arrivals from January to June. Arrivals were down 10 per cent compared to the same period last year, while income fell by around eight per cent.
“In previous years, people would book six or even nine months in advance. This season, they play it by the month. Some tourists hold out until the last moment to confirm their reservation, hoping to land a bargain,” Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides said yesterday.
Commenting on complaints over profiteering, Paschalides said such abuses had been committed by “a minority” of restaurateurs and hoteliers.
“They are the exception, not the norm, he added.”
As politicians haggled with entrepreneurs, signs of a bad summer were compounded by news that cutbacks have started taking their toll on the labour market.
Trade unions PEO and SEK hotels in Larnaca and Paphos in particular had begun sacking employees. According to the trade unions, one hotel in Paphos had recently laid off nine of its staff.
While conceding that business was down, the unions warned employers that resorting to redundancies now was premature.
Lefteris Georgiades, a spokesman for left-wing PEO, called on hoteliers not to “victimise” employees using the economic crisis as a pretext.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2009
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=46231
It seems that the Government is concerned about falling tourist numbers unlike the racist prats on this forum. I doesn't matter where the tourists come from as long as they continue to keep coming and if this forum is being read by people abroard what must they think?
I don't hate all Brits. It is just that the majority of all Brits are arseholes and I also hold the nation responsible for destroying Cyprus. And for that, they need to be punished and I'm just the guy who is eager to teach them a lesson or 2...
What a stupid racist comment, probably by a short arsed Cypriot with a small brain and a huge chip on his shoulder. Has life been so cruel to this low life punk that he hates one race of people with such venom?
Grow up you little prat and get your brain into the 21st century
