Tourism Development in Cyprus - Case Study Example

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN CYPRUS INTRODUCTION: The Mediterranean countries are one of the most popular tourist destination in the world. They attract more than 30% of the international and national tourists (250 million) The tourism industry has become one of the main sources of income in many countries (Williams and Shaw 1988, Coccossis and Nijkamp 1995). And as per Languar (1995), the tourism industry is one of the main contributors to the economies of all Mediterranean countries Cyprus one of the island nations in the mediterranean is an important tourist destination. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean (area 9251 km2). It offers tourists many wonderful options in addition to the usual sun, sea and sand destinations for which it is known. Cyprus has a 9000 years old history and is thus home to a distinctive archaeological and cultural wealth. The Cyprus Tourism Organization is promoting agro-tourism, sports tourism, health tourism etc. for countering the seasonality of its tourism sector.. The government is also looking to promote religious, cultural and adventure tourism in Cyprus. And more recently, it has launched a major rural tourism initiative, supported by the European Union (EU), to promote the island’s authentic culture and countryside. (Cyprus Tourism Policy, 2005) Due to the rapid development in the infrastructure and hospitality services, the physical environment in the coastal areas was put under strain. Rapid construction, Inadequate planning control and legislation – all have combined together to threaten the physical environment. From the international tourism perspectives, it is obvious that the industry now needs to wake up and take control of the environment, otherwise Cyprus is going to lose its main industry. In the following sections, we will take a brief look at some of the issues that need to be tackled and try to look for areas where further growth can be possible. ISSUES AND AREAS OF INTEREST: The Cyprus Tourism Organization has recognized the importance of restructuring the Tourism industry in Cyprus to establish themselves above the rival destinations.. And thus a new strategic plan defining the vision, goals and strategic direction for the Tourism Sector in Cyprus has been approved and put in place by the Government.. (Symposium on Tourism services, 2001) The rapid development in this sector has caused problems like inefficient land use, ecological disruption and marine life destruction etc. Due to large influx of visitors in the island , the local resources have come under pressure. The pollution levels are high for air and water. There are tremendous infrastructure requirements, easy transport links and facilities are required and water shortages may occur due to excessive usage for drinking, showers, laundry, swimming etc. The recreational activities also have a significant impact on the coastal area such as erosion of reefs and coral from divers and swimmers , pollution from boats and jets skis and noise from motor boats and jet skis, cars and buses, nightlife and other activities. The Tourism Development Strategy and Implementation Plan specifically deals with such problems such as Accommodation , Food and Drink (providing international cuisine), General Infrastructure – covering airports, ports, road network, pedestrian facilities, cycling routes and public open spaces, Transport facilities and Commerce.(Metaxas, 2006) Let us look at some important areas in detail. 1. AGEING RESORT : The Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) (Butler, 1980) is used to track the progress of the resort region. As per Butler, the economy of resort regions will follow a life cycle consisting of six stages; "Exploration", "Involvement", "Consolidation", "Stagnation", and either "Decline" or "Rejuvenation". He suggested that tourism numbers should be used to construct the typical "S"-shaped life cycle curve. See Figure 1. This curve or theory can be used to analyze the status of a region and allow the authorities to take appropriate timely action to avoid reaching the decline stage. Cyprus seems to be in the stagnation stage and if no action is taken, it will soon be in the decline stage. Though the revenue from tourism has gone up by 2.3%, it is has witnessed a slight fall in the number of visitors to the island owing to higher costs and increasing competition from other Mediterranean destinations.(Cyprus Tourism Policy, 2005) Figure 1 : Butler’s region Life cycle curve. With the high number of tourists choosing Cyprus as their holiday destination, the need of the hour is to provide service of international standards to the tourists. Insufficient water resources are proving to be a major issue in the tourism sector where there is an increased demand brought by booming tourism. Besides water resource problems , the other areas of concern are the architectural pollution; loss of flora and fauna; the loss of agricultural land, coastal erosion; air, water, ground and noise pollution and excessive demands on natural resources. A look at one of the other major destination such as Quicksilver Tours, Queensland, Australia, will tell us how proper management of coastal region can be done. Great Barrier Reef. Quicksilver have five large catamarans, which take about 1,000 tourists a day to dive on the reef. They have their own reef site with fixed diving platforms. They employ a team of biologists, both for environmental management and assessment as well as widespread environmental interpretation. Thus these specialists track and take care of problems as and when they arise and do not allow them to snowball into major issues. Similar alternative solutions such as waste management; environmental education; energy and water conservation; and support for local communities and culture should be undertaken to address some of the key issues in Cyprus. The Govt. of Cyprus through its Cyprus Conservation Foundation operates the Environmental Studies Centre which has initiated a number of practical conservation activities in the country. This center is open to tourists as well and has been working on areas such as Reforestion of abandoned hillsides and the local network of footpaths – these are being planted with Aleppo oak. As the tourist influx increased, the number of marinas and Sea Front Resorts mushroomed throughout the coastal area at a stunning pace. The sea front hotels are most popular as they provide a lovely view of vast ocean area through the hotel rooms to the visitor. This is definitely an added attraction for the tourist. These developments opened new avenues and great opportunities to the Marine, Boating and Yatch Building and Brokerage Industries.by creating thousands of jobs in these perspective sectors. But this has brought up the issues of coastal degradation as well to the fore. The pollution levels are increasing for air and water and land. Water shortages may occur due to excessive usage for drinking, showers, laundry, swimming etc. There should be adequate waste disposal system in place otherwise all the wasteful or the dirty water will flow to wards the sea in and around the coast therby endangering the aquatic marine life Similarly, The recreational activities also have a significant impact on the coastal area from divers and swimmers as their activities might cause erosion of coral and reefs. The need is to find a balance between the development and environmental protection. . 2. Seasonality: An important feature of tourism in the Mediterranean basin is its strong seasonality. This is largely because the summer months have most sun and the least chance of close or rain and moreover this is the time when generally schools are closed for holidays and people use this time for planning their annual vacations.. Tourism in Cyprus is seasonal. Over a quarter of all tourists arrive in the peak months of July and August, with the summer quarter (July to September) accounting for almost 40% of total annual arrivals. Refer to figure 2. It shows the effects of seasonality on the resource base of one Catalan Mediterranean resort. Figure 2 : A village’s occupancy in year 2001: March 42% May 56% June 38% July 53% August 85% Sept 40% October 62% Nov 33% We can see it clearly that during June and November, the rate of the accommodation occupation is pretty low, comparing with August, which is 85%. Actually, in summer season, all hotels and beds are occupied, but the occupancy rates drops considerably in winters. This is because the climate of the country is less pleasant in December and January, and hence a considerable overcapacity is apparent during those months. Therefore, it is important that other types of demand should be explored to bridge this period. Thus in 1991, The Cyprus Agrotourism Program was designed and promoted by the Cyprus Tourism Organization to bring the tourists to the countryside instead of over populating Cyprus's sun and sea attractions. The idea was to counter the seasonality pattern of Cyprus tourism, as agrotourism in Cyprus is basically an all weather product. Thus similar projects which focus on product diversification and development/promotion of offseason and weather independent activities are needed to provide Cyprus with alternatives to normal tourism. The Cyprus tourist organization should look at its promotional activities so as to provide good publicity to increase the number of tourist arrivals during the lean months. Besides agrotourism for which it has won the International Award --for a tourism programme characterised by respect for environmental integrity and cultural diversity, it should also try to popularize Winter tourism, and business and leisure tourism to attract more visitors. 3. Marine aquaculture development : Marine aquaculture is a considerable new economic activity undertaken by the government to help the tourism industry. Marine aquaculture is being practiced along the coasts, on the narrow continental shelf of the island. In 1990-1991 massive growth of the green filamentous algae Cladophora, occurred in the one of the most popular tourist areas of Ayia Napa. The algae grew in huge quantities, in the shallow waters and their dead remains were washed ashore and caused irritation to the tourists. Since Tourism presents a main outlet for aquaculture products, it was estimated that each tourist would consume at least 1.5 kg of fish .Aquaculture helped in meeting this demand. , Since there is minimum or very less large soil surfaces available now for semi-intensive aqualculture, this has pushed Mediterranean aquaculture development towards more intensive farming production systems. In countries like Spain , where there have been quite a number of earthpond projects, they too are shifting towards cage farming.. Thus, the Cyprus government chose the technology of offshore cage culture to develop marine aquaculture, due to the already high exploitation of coastal land by tourism, concerns for environmental issues and the lack of sheltered inland sea sites (Stephanou, 1999) But there are still concerns such as lack of more suitable sites and environmental degradation. 4. The problem is that Cyprus has positioned itself as sun, sea and sand destination and thus it will have to break free of this image to emerge as all season tourist spot. Moreover, it has been badly affected by its high prices, both in terms of air fares and the cost of living. Thus its position against its rival destinations such as Spain and Turkey (both are cheaper in comparison) has been lowered.. CONCLUSION: Evidently the development of tourism in Cyprus has both helped and created problems in the same vein. The country is facing the typical problems of island tourism development -- excessive demands on limited natural and human resources, economic dependence on the tourism sector, mass market appeal and diminishing competitiveness and dependence on principal markets and overseas tour operators. And simultaneously, the amazing economic growth and prosperity of the island nation is completely due to the tourism sector. Because of its importance as a popular holiday destination, other sectors of the economy have also received the boost. Employment opportunities are plenty and the infrastructural development and economic prosperity has brought Cyprus into the leading developed zones of the world. Of course, there have been the usual environmental consequences and development problems, but the economy has shown a steady growth. The coastal tourism sector in the world is getting increasingly competitive, with tourists expecting more quality for the lowest possible price. Today’s tourists expect more than sun, sea and sand, as was the case two decades ago. Thus Cyprus as a tourist destination will have to offer a wide variety of associated leisure activities and experiences including sports, cuisine, culture and natural attractions Thus it is high time for the authorities to consolidate these gains and look for long term and sustained tourism policy which would be able to attract tourists as ever before and be able to compete with other holiday destinations. REFERENCES: 1. Butler, R., (1980) The concept of a tourist area cycle of evolution. Canadian Geographer 24, 5–12. 2. Coccossis, H., and P. Nijkamp, (editors) (1995). Sustainable Tourism Development. Avebury, Aldershot, UK. 3. Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Policy, 2005 4. Languar, R. (1995). Tourisme et Environnement en Mediterranée: enjeux et prospective. Les fascicules du Plan Blue, No. 8. Plan d Action pour la Mediterranee. Programme des Nations Unies pour l'environnement. Economica, Paris. 5. Metaxas, A., (2006) Strategic Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development in Cyprus, Cyprus Tourism Organization 6. Stephanou, D. (1995). On the supply and consumption of fish in Cyprus. In Marketing of Aquaculture Products. Cahiers Options Mediterraneennes, 17: 45-54. 7. Stephanou, D. (1999). Marine aquaculture development and tourism: The case of Cyprus. In: Aquaculture Planning in Mediterranean Countries, Proceedings of the Workshop of the SELAM Network. 8. Symposium on Tourism Services, (2001) 9. Williams, A. M., and G. Shaw, (editors). (1988). Tourism and Economic Development: Western European Experiences. Belhaven, London, UK Read More