Cyprus-Forum.com

[sniper]

OPEN CASINOS!

The locals instead of going north or using illegal places in the RoC, would use them and we would attract the Middle Eastern lot as well (including the Isrealis).

We would also get all the money back from the Chinese that are here.

only 1 license given, that i know about. Was given to a russian guy. talk about monopolizing the income market

[pissouri]

OPEN CASINOS!

The locals instead of going north or using illegal places in the RoC, would use them and we would attract the Middle Eastern lot as well (including the Isrealis).

We would also get all the money back from the Chinese that are here.

Yea right, but how much is a cup of coffee or tea going to be in these places?

[The machine man]

OPEN CASINOS!

The locals instead of going north or using illegal places in the RoC, would use them and we would attract the Middle Eastern lot as well (including the Isrealis).

We would also get all the money back from the Chinese that are here.

i agree with CBBB i went to the turkish side last year to visit some of my wife relatives who live there, we all went out night time to a casino and i had a chat with a cypriot lad about 30 or something and he told me he only comes to the turkish side for the casinos, big amount of locals go there for that reason.. someone told me its not allowed in cyprus due to religion reasons but i saw many bet fair shops around ((its also gambelling))
so its bit two faced to me, also lots of arab money would come to cyprus if there is casinos those ppl say we dont do gambelling ((its not allowed in Islam)) but you see them putting crazy amount of money in casinos !!

[CBBB]

OPEN CASINOS!

The locals instead of going north or using illegal places in the RoC, would use them and we would attract the Middle Eastern lot as well (including the Isrealis).

We would also get all the money back from the Chinese that are here.

only 1 license given, that i know about. Was given to a russian guy. talk about monopolizing the income market

No licences have been given to anyone, the President is against them.

I don't care what the price of a coffee will be, I won't visit them!

[sniper]

OPEN CASINOS!

The locals instead of going north or using illegal places in the RoC, would use them and we would attract the Middle Eastern lot as well (including the Isrealis).

We would also get all the money back from the Chinese that are here.

only 1 license given, that i know about. Was given to a russian guy. talk about monopolizing the income market

No licences have been given to anyone, the President is against them.

I don't care what the price of a coffee will be, I won't visit them!

maybe the president needs to clamp down on the police then
fully operational casino in kato paphos (unless the owner has a provisional license, or immunity)

[Tim Drayton]

i would say, training in most hotels is lacking. staff don't care about doing their job, just about getting paid, which i am aware is a general thing that most people do, but if it is one of your main resources of income on a national level then some form of hospitality needs to be practiced to make the clients come back again.
Staff don't know anything about Cyprus, guests ask them about local sites and places of interest and they recommend bar street.did you know that the hotel stars in cyprus are based on the facilities that the hotel offers rather than cleanliness and service? well there you go, self explanatory.

management in most hotels do not concern themselves with the complaints, problems, nor recommendations of the clients, who by the way have probably stayed in hundreds of hotels and probably know what they are talking about.

This summer, I had a brief chat with a Bahraini who was holidaying in Limassol. Our conversation began because he needed my help to decipher a poster in Greek advertising an evening of traditional Cypriot dance. He simply wanted to know where the venue was because he could not read Greek. He told me that he had made inquiries about such events with the reception at the hotel where he was staying - and it was not a cheap hotel - and nobody there was able to offer him the slightest assistance. In fact they told him he would have to to Larnaca for that sort of thing. This supports what you are saying.

[CyprusResearch]

It is my humble opinion, that as long as businesses operate in the manner they appear to be doing now, then nothing much will change. If it does, then it will be by chance (there's always a statistical chance that things will turn out to be better this year).

I believe the main problem in Cyprus, is that businesses don't understand their consumers, and consequently do not use their resources effectively. It is a case of the 'boss' to sit down and plan ahead based on consumer feedback. It is not unrealistic to think that things are going to get better, but I am afraid that the problem is so widespread (our culture plays a big role as well) that Cyprus will need a lot of time to get back to its feet again.

This is a good topic by the way. It is nice to see that people are actually discussing such issues. This is definitely the way forward.

[CyprusResearch]

What do you reckon will happen then next year then?

With price hikes at restaurants/bars etc and the recession how will next year fare? The recession will still be with us next year IMO and I think people may opt for different destinations. The Euro is bad now and has been bad for over a year.

What new attractions will arrive for next year? What new offerings or hotels will be built?

If you were CEO of the CTO what would you do?

Not that tourism is that important to Cyprus economy anyway

place your suggestions here, one of my close friends just got placed on the board of CTO. I'll deliver any that make sense to him.

Commision research to find out what people like about Cyprus, what they don't, when was the last time they visited Cyprus and why, how they rate their experience and why, will they come back and why or why not, when they are planning to come back, ask people what they think of prices for flights in Cyprus, what they think of the culture, the people.

A short term action plan would be to find out what most people like about Cyprus and target that with marketing, and all the negatives should be fed though to all relevant parties with recommendations for improvement.

FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT/WHERE IS THE PROBLEM. This can only be achieved by listening to the people who have visted Cyprus recently and in the past.

[paliometoxo]

THE ISLAND’S travel agents yesterday said high prices were the main reason for the continued drop in tourist arrivals.

“You cannot sell a Fiat at the price of a Ferrari,” Association of Cyprus Travel Agents (ACTA) chairman Victor Mantovanis said.

Mantovanis said high prices had to be tackled seriously as they were the main reason for the fall in tourist arrivals beyond the global economic crisis and H1N1 flu.

Tourist arrivals for the year are down by some 11 per cent.

“We all know about the high prices but we wash our hands of it and no one takes serious decisions on to how to fight this scourge,” Mantovanis said.

Even cafeteria chains in Cyprus are more expensive than the same chains on Oxford Street in London, the ACTA chairman said.

“In Cyprus we all want to get rich overnight,” he added.

Mantovanis said the messages from the tourism exhibition in the UK speak of a “very difficult” year ahead both because of the price of the Cypriot product and the parity between the pound sterling and the euro.

He said Turkey now offers its prices in sterling and has seen a spectacular increase in tourists from Great Britain.

Compared to other Mediterranean countries, Cyprus has the steepest drop of arrivals from the UK for 2010.

The fall reached 25 per cent compared to Greece’s 14 per cent and Spain’s 16 per cent.

At the same time Turkey recorded a 30 per cent spike, Mantovanis said.

On top of that, Cyprus’ product is aged with a lot of hotels needing renovation but low profits in recent years forbid any work from being done.

Mantovanis said the state does not give any incentives for upgrading or renovating hotel units.

He also expressed concern about the “high rent asked from those using space at the new (Larnaca) airport” which would inevitably lead to higher expenditure for airlines.

Mantovanis said the damage in recent years was done by neighbouring Turkey and Egypt due to the huge increase of high spec beds while Cyprus has not built a new hotel for many years.

“The price difference of these destinations with Cyprus is huge,” Mantovanis said.

ACTA general manager Thasos Katsourides said enrichment projects, which add value to the tourist product, like casinos, marinas and theme parks were being delayed.

[Z4]

Some interesting points here.

Maybe something should be done about the number of foriegn workers in hotels/bars/restaurants etc. The one thing which Cyprus is famous for is hospitality. But this has in my eyes been lost recently, in certain areas anyway.

When I first started coming to CY all workers in the above were all Cypriot but as we know this has changed. The waiter was Andreas, the chef was an Andreas, the receptionist was a Maria and the head barman was Andreas! Now, most of the workers are foriegn. What about introducing a law which say the company has to employ a certain number of Cypriot people?

When I visit CY I want to deal with Cypriots, not Poles, Russians or English.

Bring back some of the old charm and it's free!