Cyprus 50 years of independence, 50 years of Cyprus Tourism
The 16th of August 1960, Archbishop Makarios III representing the Greek Cypriots and Dr. Fazil Küçük representing the Turkish Cypriots have signed the independence of Cyprus from the British Empire.
Since then the history of Cyprus has not been very easy. Nevertheless, tourism has grown spectacularly basically due to private initiative of the then young tourism entrepreneurs.
People like Louis Loizou, founder of Louis Group, Yiannis Skyrianides, founder of the Cyprus Hotel Association, Renos Solomides, hotelier and ex Minister of Commerce and Industry, Katsellis Family, owners of the emblematic Dome Hotel in Kyrenia, the poet Costas Montis, the first president of the Tourism Counsil, which has later been transformed to the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, and many, many others who believed that tourism could be the major source of income for the Cypriot economy.
50 years after our Independence, we look into the future with perplexity, questioning and wondering if the present model of tourism development in Cyprus is a model that assures the future of tourism and the future of a healthy economy.
The global and deep financial crisis has made us understand that we cannot continue with practises of the last half century. The tourism pioneers of the 60’s have dared to change the agricultural economy of Cyprus into a service economy. Today is our duty to move towards Experiential Economy and accompany our visitors to their travel experience before even they land and after they arrive back home.
The use of new technologies, investment in training, collaborative projects, local management of tourism and return to our traditions, preservation and regeneration of our natural environment, sustainable resource management and last but not least extreme customer awareness and care should be the ingredients of the new strategic and action plan of the Cyprus Tourism in general.
The booklet below is a document created by the Cyprus Hotel Association and is document that shows the history of Tourism in Cyprus even before the independence.
Click here to see and download the E-Booklet