Blogging Petros

A Travel experience from Cyprus

2011-05-13T16:56:00Z

I have been traveling for professional reasons for some years now, and I have never had anything special to write. My last trip was to Dubai with Emirates Airlines and this time I have something to say. On May the 1st I had the opportunity to travel to Dubai for the Arabian Travel Market 2011. The trip started with a friendly welcome from the Check in desk of Emirates airlines in Larnaca airport. The whole process went smooth, the airport services as well the efficiency of the staff of Emirates was...(read more)

Travel Freely !!! Greek and Cyprus tourism at your reach.

2010-05-02T15:10:00Z

Travel Freely !!! Greek and Cyprus tourism at your reach. Whatever TV station you have on, whatever radio station you listen, whatever digital or paper newspaper you read, the news are the same. “Greece is in deep financial problems and this is due to the Greeks, the Greek way of thinking, the Greeks lied to the EU and so on and so forth”. I am sorry Ladies and Gentlemen, but not all the Greeks are the same. Once, with a friend from Turkey at the World Travel Market in London some years...(read more)

Social Media Drive Sales to Tourism, Online marketing for tourism is social and profitable!!

2010-02-18T06:03:00Z

This post is inspired on the Mashable post about Social Media and how it can drive revenue to airlines and hotels. Therefore I would like to thank Shashank Nigam , its writer for the inspiration. As Shashank very accurately says Social media is no longer the “new” thing, especially for airlines. Looking at JetBlue or Lufthansa we understand that social Media is part of their daily routine. However, most airlines are still wondering or even worse are still doubting that Social Media can...(read more)

Tax payer buyout to save Eurocypria

2010-02-12T11:30:00Z

When Eurocypria was formed as a subsidiary Cyprus Airways airline in March 1995 the idea was to give an alternative way of visiting Cyprus as well as going abroad from Cyprus. As a charter airline, Eurocypria was a failure since the practices followed for many years was that it was the “poor child of the Cyprus state owned companies”. This is actually where the problem stars. Business practices that were not willing to change; government run businesses do not usually serve business purposes...(read more)

A glass of wine in Cyprus

2009-12-29T17:22:00Z

I have recently had a very nice chat with an expert in Tourism who is very sensitive to how sustainable is the tourism activity. Someone who I respect very much and who I strongly believe his views are valid and very reasonable. Views I share and I find extremely easy to understand and follow. During our relaxed chat I have realised that he has been around in Cyprus and at one point he was disturbed by the fact that in a traditional Cypriot taverna he has been offered South American wine. Nothing...(read more)

Larnaca Airport Black-out causing Unexcused noise from politicians

2009-12-29T14:46:00Z

The unfortunate black-out of the runways in Larnaca Airport has created in my opinion too much noise. Hermes Airports has proven to be an efficient and very responsible company delivering without one day of delay 2 brand new airports for Cyprus according to the planed and signed schedule. Hermes airports is the only company who made Cypriots proud the last years. The international airports of Paphos (PFO) and Larnaca (LCA) are definitely the only jewel on the Cypriot Crown. The Republic of Cyprus...(read more)

Meetings in Cyprus

2009-12-02T12:57:00Z

When we are looking for a place for business meetings most of the times we think of business environment. Cyprus meetings industry offers a unique scenery for business meetings. Away from the tight corporate environment close to the splendid Mediterranean sea and the green Mediterranean forest, away from high traffic streets and far from stressful situations. During the EIBTM 2009 in Barcelona, Cyprus presented the wide offer of accommodation, mmeting facilities and activities the meeting consumer...(read more)

Leadership in Cyprus Tourism

2009-11-17T20:52:00Z

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...(read more)

Expedia by Choice

2009-11-17T20:47:00Z

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”....(read more)

The Choice of Expedia

2009-10-29T06:39:00Z

I would like to thank Max Starkov for bringing up the courageous decision of Choice hotels to leave the conversations with Expedia. Yes finally we have a big player in accommodation supply to stand up and protest actively against the “Market Dictatorship” of a portal that acts as hotel rooms online are of its property. We keep experiencing this same authoritarian approach by wholesalers, even now after the appearance of the internet. Hoteliers in coastal resorts and especially in the...(read more)

In Tourism, innovation, training and collaboration can turn Crisis into an Opportunity

2009-10-15T10:15:00Z

The internet has become the first ally of Tourism Companies to fight Crisis. In the last months there is an increased interest from Cypriot travel companies to get trained on E-Marketing. This interest is mainly visible among the big travel related companies who are keen to have their top level marketers trained to face the new challenges using The Online as Major Business tool. From our experience we see companies such as Louis Group, the Amathus Hotels, Stademos Hotels, the hotel Four Seasons in...(read more)

Measures to boost Tourism in Cyprus cause collateral damage

2009-10-01T18:40:00Z

Lately we hear on the news that the measures the Cyprus government adopted to boost tourism will continue for the year 2010. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism through the Cyprus Tourism Organization spends millions of Euros on “bonus plans” to the Tour Operators from almost all over the world (at least all the markets they consider primary) who manage to land tourist in Larnaca(LCA) and Paphos(PFO) Airports. This policy is widely accepted in the Tourism Sector since the bonus...(read more)

Paphos International Airport - (PFO) – A great Experience

2009-08-01T09:11:00Z

In the eighties Pafos was written on the international airport map with its PFO airport. Then the society in Cyprus was divided. Was Paphos was big enough to host an international airport? The area was basically abandoned by the Cypriot State since the connection between Limassol (Lemesos) and Pafos was made by a narrow curvy and dangerous road and there was indication that the high way was soon to be built. Today after 20 years, Pafos has the highway and Pafos – Limassol is just 30 minutes...(read more)

From attracting to seducing, the internet has changed tourism as well

2009-07-01T20:00:00Z

The Internet has become the means of attraction of tourists for many “inexistent” Tourist Destinations worldwide. Places like New Zealand, Slovakia, Montenegro or regions such as Murcia or Extremadura in Spain almost did not “exist” before the Internet Revolution. They took very seriously their online potential and invested time and money on their online actions and strategies. Here below I try to will give you a different approach with 3 different methods of how Destinations...(read more)

Cyprus, a tourist destination with nature

2009-06-05T17:02:00Z

Once upon a time there was a country in the Mediterranean where you could swim in crystal waters, where you could walk in its green fields, where you could taste the real taste of its veggies, where you could get better water from the taps than from the bottles, where you could pickup mushrooms on its mountains and valleys, where you could meet foxes in its forests, where you could watch eagles in its skies where you could not find rubbish in its forests. Now in this country you find this…...(read more)