After the WTM (2009) in London, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Mr. Antonis Paschalides has brought a very pessimistic message back to Cyprus. In a press conference he appeared very sure that Cyprus will lose even more on the UK tourism pie since the British Pound is weak against the Euro. Well after this declarations, at least we know who is not going to be the leader in Cyprus Tourism. We could feel the lack of leadership in Cyprus tourism but now we know why. No leadership because of the weakness of the British Pound against the Euro. Well Mr. Minister with this kind of messages you will allow me to look for leadership in tourism in Cyprus elsewhere, outside your ministry.
It seems that Expedia understood that a hotel chain is sovereign. The negotiations between Expedia and Choice produced an agreement the leaves Expedia without last room availability. This means that Choice Hotel members have now the choice to work with the 80 portals of Expedia under conditons that they can manage and support.
I hope that this agreement can be respected and transported to other hotels, smaller players that still feel the “boot of Expedias”.