Inspired in the article of Mark Seall published on the Travolution blog I made a small study of how the Travel Sector of Cyprus is cooping with the evolution the internet took after 2006.
Web 2.0 is a term that whoever works with the net knows that basically means online human relationships. In other words the internet is not a source of information but a place to share experiences, opinions and influence decisions.
In Cyprus the LEADRS of the tourism industry are still thinking tour operator will influence tourists and bring them to Cyprus. They still think that their restaurant in a five star hotel is a facility that has to be discovered once the customer has checked in, they still think that incoming agents do not even need a web site, they call Facebook a place to play and not to relate, they believe that Google is cheating and wants their money to bring them traffic.
After www.emergence2009.com in February 2009 I have had many, many , many conversations with tourist actors in Cyprus. Hoteliers, incoming agents, regional boards, tour guides and others have the opinion that the net is not real. What ever happens online is virtual, and has no influence whatsoever in their job, bank account or customer relations.
I will not mention names of companies that lead this country's tourism but we all know who they are.
Well check for them on facebook, twitter or even google and you will realise that I am not making stories up.
I will only give one detail. Every 1000 tourist service related searches on the global Web sphere, 800 results are coming from the other Cyprus, the one we all remember but we all deleted.
Forty eight million (48,000,000) Chinese travelled outside China last year . This is the data the minister of Tourism of Cyprus announced on the Cypriot radio stations. During his trip to China, Mr. Antonis Paschalides had as objective of reinforcing the trade and tourism links between the Asian Goliath and the Mediterranean David.
During a morning programme of a local radio (if a recall well was in Radio Pafos www.radiopafos.com) Mr. Paschalides clearly stated that his aim was to built strong tourism relationships between China and Cyprus and therefore an agreement was signed.
I must say that I am totally relived, I think that after this visit in China all the hoteliers, incoming agents, restaurateurs, excursion organisers, tour guides (especially the Mandarin speaking ones) and the rest of the tourist sector feel relived.
The bankers are tranquil that the tourist sector will pay them back all their loans and they will be able to lend to the sector even more since the Chinese are on their way.
I am sure that the Minister has also agreed with Cyprus Airways to start direct flights to Beijing (inChinese: 北京) and Shanghai ( in Chinese: 上海).
I also want to believe that our embassy and consulates in China have made all the adequate arrangements to provide the many thousands, probably millions of Chinese with visas. I am also positive that all the implied governmental departments such as the department of Archaeology have already made all the necessary arrangements to translate the tourist guides in Mandarin and Cantonese as well as the web sites of Cyprus Airways and the CTO.
So the next flourishing business in Cyprus is teaching Chinese to Russian, Polish and Romanian waiters, receptionists and housekeepers.
I am wondering if our chefs are ready to cater for Chinese.
Here is the official site of the Chinese Tourism Office