Despite state and private efforts, the island’s tourism industry needs further boosting and the government has placed reforms in the tourism sector among its priorities, undersecretary to the President Constantinos Petrides said on Tuesday addressing the annual general meeting of the Larnaca Tourism Board.
The government “listened to the problems and suggestions” of the tourism industry and “proceeds with actions”, he said.
Petrides said that the problems the island’s tourism faces are overdependence on two markets, the dependence on external or geopolitical factors, and the absence of a “specific, long-term plan to increase and strengthen our tourism competitiveness”.
He added that efforts are hampered by the absence of “complementarity and coherence”, as well as the “overly intrusive regulatory framework which in many cases requires uniformity rather diversification of our tourism product”.
He said that the government is preparing five bills aiming at the reform of the tourism industry.
The reforms, Petrides said, “are expected to have a catalytic role in the modernisation and the success of the tourism policy of our country”.
Among the reforms is the introduction of a national policy on tourism. The government, he said, plans to work with international experts. The first data are expected by September. The aim, among others, is to promote Cyprus in the international tourism market, analyse international trends, locate competition and focus on the island’s advantages.
He also said that a most important role as to the execution of this policy, is the underministry for tourism. The government had announced its intention to set up the authority earlier in the year.
President Nicos Anastasiades expressed hope recently that it would be in place by January 2017.
Some of its tasks will be simplifying the legislative framework for business licensing by reducing red tape by up to 60 per cent. The bills will shortly be submitted to parliament, Petrides said.
As regards Larnaca, he said the government has completed projects worth tens of millions and secured the funds for additional works.
“This means that infrastructure projects worth more than €150m are expected to be completed within these five years, which will undoubtedly have a substantial impact on Larnaca’s tourism perspective,” Petrides said.
Meanwhile the tourism board unveiled a new advertising campaign based on flamingos with the strapline ‘They Always Come Back’.
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