Tourism Development in Cyprus - Assignment Example

Tourism Development in Cyprus Introduction Tourism is currently known as the world's largest industry and its development is creating fast social, economic and environmental changes which need an in depth understanding and measures to manage it. Tourism is now becoming a major area of study among students all over the world and its development and management hold many career opportunities for students (Sterling University 2007). This paper will discuss the tourism development in Cyprus. This country was chosen because of it competitiveness. According to the World Economic Forum's 2007 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, Cyprus' tourism industry ranks 20th in the world in terms of overall competitiveness. In terms of Human, Cultural and Natural Resources (in relation to the tourism industry) Cyprus ranks 3rd in the world (Travel and Tourism Competitive Index 2007) Cyprus has promoted tourism as a major source of national income and it is the second biggest industry of the country. With the physical attributes of Cyprus, it has a potential to grow as one of the major tourist destinations. Background Cyprus is the third-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia, located west of Syria and south of Turkey. The island has a maximum length of about 225 km from Cape Andreas in the northeast to the western extremity of the island and has 648 km coastline. Its maximum width, from Cape Gata in the south to Cape Kormakiti in the north, is about 97 km. The total area of the nation is 9,252 sq km. Nicosia is the capital and largest city. The majority of the population is Greek Cypriot, and they follow the Christian Orthodox religion. The main language spoken is Greek but English is widely spoken, along with German, in the tourist areas. The overriding attraction is reliable sunshine - the island is the sunniest in the Med, and from May to September there's barely a cloud in the sky. In the last 20 years, Cyprus has become increasingly popular as a holiday destination. Cyprus is now a top choice for the UK's package holidaymakers (Cyprus 2007) The Tourism Industry Since tourism is the second largest industry in the it creates jobs as the tourist arrival increases. The tourism industry accounted for some 22% of Cyprus’ GDP in 2000. A total of 2.686.205 tourists visited Cyprus, up nearly 30% since 1995. Outbound departures accounted for a further 590.000 trips (Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry 2001). In 2003, some 43.500 people were directly employed in the tourist industry (in hotels, restaurants, bars, travel agencies and as tourist guides) accounting for about 13% of the country’s gainfully employed population. There are quite a few benefits after becoming a member of EU. First of all, Tourism is a significant job creating activity, it helps the Cyprus government solved a big problem. Plenty of unemployed men go back to their posts over again because of the increasing tourism businesses and relative commerce like environment protection. The latest official employment statistics from 1999 indicate that 10.6% of the active employed population works in the hotel and restaurant sectors. But In 2002, the tourism sector accounted for 15.9% of total employment. (Statistics Plan for Tourism 2000-2010. Cyprus Tourism Organisation). In addition, the other parts of the European tourists can use their own passport directly travel in Cyprus. Cyprus, surrounded by the sea, it was not much opportunities to contact with outside world before, and nowadays it can attracts different countries people come in and local people go abroad. Low Crime Rate One of the major considerations of most tourist is the peace and order situation of the tourist destination. After the 9-11 terrorist attack in the United States and the Sipadan kidnapping issue. Tourist are more careful on choosing the destination that they will go to. Cyprus has a competitive edge on this matter, because Crime in country is comparatively very low level. The Police officers are always ready to assist anyone who needs help and all of them can speak English (Cyprus Golden Apple 2004) Tourism Issues and Problems There are current issues and problems that Cyprus is facing regarding their tourism industry. These issues must be answered accordingly in order to keep the tourism industry in the country alive. Some of the problems are: Decreasing Tourist Arrival Tourist inflow in 2003 decreased by 4.76% in comparison to 2002 (2.303.246 tourists in 2003 and 2.418.233 in 2002). The major share of the tourist traffic to Cyprus originates from Western, Central and Northern Europe. In 2003 the United Kingdom remained the major source of tourist traffic, contributing almost 60% of the total tourist arrivals, followed by Germany, Greece, Russia, Sweden and Ireland (each contributing about 5-6%). Other European countries, Israel and U.S.A. were also important contributors to tourist traffic to Cyprus in 2003. (Cyprus Government 2003 report) Seasonality An important feature of tourism in the Mediterranean basin is its strong seasonality. Most tourist’s travel during August and no less than 40% of all arrivals are registered in the peak months of July, August and September. Such a strong seasonality dictated by the weather, gives rise to two problems, which will be expounded in phase three. Besides these issues above, there are more things to consider like the seafront hotel development, transportation integration, etc. To produce a depth and focused case study of Cyprus in my final assignment, some further research and analysis need to be done shortly, such as read more journal articles to support my viewpoint. The Tourism Development Plan The Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry supports the vision of the government to increase the tourist arrivals of the country. In their convention in 2001 they have stressed out that they are supporting the national initiatives of the Cyprus government, which includes: (1) development of the strategic plan from 2003-2010; (2) Product enhancement including development of agrotourism and sports infrastructure to increase market share; (3) Key infrastructural investment like airport and roads that will support the industry in the near future. Cyprus has been working hard to promote their country and live-up to their reputation as the a fine holiday destination. In 2001, the held a conference entitled: The Cyprus Tourism Industry in the 21st Century: Potential and Challenges in the Global Market (Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry 2001) . They have developed a strategic plan from 2003-2010. In this plan, they include improvement in transportation and infrastructure, development of special interest products. They reviewed and classified their market into three namely: high priority market, medium priority market, and low priority market. High priority market includes countries like, United Kingdom, Russia, Greece, Germany, Republic of Ireland and France. Middle priority market includes countries from Persian Gulf, countries from Middle east, Israel, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Austria. Low Priority markets include Poland, Finland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary, USA, Ukraine and Belarus. As far as emerging markets are concerned, Spain, the countries of former Eastern Europe (e. g. Romania, Bulgaria), the countries of former Yugoslavia, other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Canada, China and India are the best prospects (Coucounaras 2004). They are also planning to strengthen their domestic tourism in order to increase the revenue from the tourism. Another best idea that they had is to develop their infrastructure so that they can be a possible host of Olympics in the future. Although this is a very expensive project, the government know that this will not only promote their country internationally but it will generate more income as tourist arrival increases for this kind of events. They were also promoting agrotourism, they have created a development plan for rural tourism. Under this plan an integrated tourist product for the countryside, enhanced by projects of cultural and environmental nature that are addressed to special interests and activities (Coucounaras 2004 p.11) Comparison of Tourist Arrival 1989-2006 It has been mentioned that tourist arrival decreased in 2003 but it picks up after year. The implemented strategic plan for the development of tourism yields more tourist arrival for Cyprus. (see table 1) 2006) Table 1 Tourist Arrival (1989-2006) Year Tourist Arrival 1989* 1,377,636 1990* 1,561,479 1991* 1,385,129 1992* 1,991,000 1993* 1,841,000 1994* 2,069,000 1995* 2,100,000 1996* 1,950,000 1997* 2,088,000 1998* 2,222,706 1999* 2,434,285 2000* 2,686,205 2001* 2,696,732 2002* 2,418,233 2003* 2,303,246 2004** 2,349,012 2005** 2,470,063 2006*** 1,524,516 (January –June) *Tourism in Cyprus 2003 (http://www.visitcyprus.org.cy/ctoweb/ctowebsite.nsf/9cce22e456308f6fc2256c7d0053a54d/370e04af7f1a2a73c2256de50031ab92/$FILE/Selected%20Tourism%20Statistics%201989-2003.pdf) **Acta Statistics 2000-2005 (http://www.acta.org.cy/downloads/actastatistics2000-2005final.pdf), ***yasou travel (http://yasoutravel.com/User/NewsDetails.aspx?id=62) The Statistical Service reported that in January-June 2006 the number of arrivals covering all categories of travellers reached 1,524,516, recording an increase of 0.1% compared to the corresponding period last year while departures reached 1,450,977, recording a decrease of 0.7% compared to January-June 2005 (Yasou Travel. Com With this continuous development in Cyprus and the increasing tourist arrival in the their country we can say that their strategic plan is working for them. Conclusion Cyprus is a beautiful country strategically located near the rich countries in the world. The Cyprus government must take advantage of this and continue to plan very well their marketing strategy in order to attract more tourist to visit their country. The support that the government get from different bureau, department and NGO’s has been a great help in increasing the tourist arrival. An additional factor that will help them develop their tourism is the low crime rate in their country. Bibliography Coucounaras, Christina. Strategic Plan for Tourism Development 2003-2010. Cyprus the Golden Apple. [Online] Available at: http://www.visitcyprus.org.cy/ Kattamis, Constatinos. Tourism in Cyprus 2003. [Online] Available at: http://www.visitcyprus.org.cy/ctoweb/ctowebsite.nsf/9cce22e456308f6fc2256c7d0053a54d/370e04af7f1a2a73c2256de50031ab92/$FILE/Selected%20Tourism%20Statistics%201989-2003.pdf Association of Cyprus Travel Agent. Summary Economic and Tourism Data for Cyprus Collected and Compiled by ACTA’s Secretariate 11 August 2006 ACTA. [Online] Available at: http://www.acta.org.cy/downloads/actastatistics2000-2005final.pdfhttp://www.acta.org.cy/downloads/actastatistics2000-2005final.pdf Cyprus. Geography. 25 April 2007. [Online] Available at: http://www.visitcyprus.org.cy/ Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Cyprus Tourism Industry in the 21st Century: Potential & Challenges in the Global Market. 19 October 2001. [Online] Available at: http://www.cti-conference.org/ Travel and Tourism Competitive Index. World Economic Forum. 02 March 2007. IN Wikepedia [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Cyprus University of Sterling. What is Tourism? 24 April 2007. Tourism Management. [Online] Available at: http://www.marketing.stir.ac.uk/tourism/1.htm Yasou Travel.Com. Europeans dominate tourist arrivals in Cyprus. 13 August 2006. Yasou Travel. Com [Online] Available at: http://yasoutravel.com/User/NewsDetails.aspx?id=62 Read More