State incentives too little too late for Ryanair
"RECENT state incentives to boost Cyprus’ flagging tourism, which included a cut in airport fees, is too little too late, low-cost carrier Ryanair has said.
“The ones who will survive the [financial] crisis will be those who are flexible and nimble-footed. The urgency being shown by competing countries doesn’t seem to be shared by Cyprus. We could have been flying tourists in before the crisis broke”, Berger told the Sunday Mail in an interview.
For the past several years, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) has been attempting to woo low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.
However the Irish airline, which recently touted charging passengers to use aircraft toilets, had been pushing for the government to lower airport fees.
“We hoped that the new President would make a difference to the way things were done, and be more open to new ideas”, he said.
“Is the government clawing back one-third of landing revenues the correct thing to do in the current situation? There is a crisis situation. You need to look aggressively at the government’s take of airport fees, which is high in relation to Cyprus’ main competitors. The recently-announced cut in the government share is too little too late. It is a huge lost opportunity.”
Berger said in the current crisis the global tourism sector was evolving quickly and developing new niches.
In this context, major industry players like Ryanair measure the CTO’s performance against their other potential partners. “The CTO’s budget should be tested for value for money. Making mistakes is OK, but keeping on making the same mistakes is not right.”
Ryanair first opened discussions with the CTO in January 2007 on bringing tourists to Cyprus on a scale that would cure the already-present problem of falling numbers. Discussions continued until February 2008, when the CTO decided that Ryanair’s requirements were “prohibitive, and not covered by any EU-approved scheme”.
There are also practical reasons why Ryanair won’t be planning UK flights to/from Cyprus, which take four to five hours compared to the low-cost carriers’ usual ceiling of three hours.
“You have built a new palace of an airport in Paphos, but you need to look at travel costs, fees and so on. To use an election metaphor, our “floating voters” will go where it’s cheaper, like Greece or Malta. They’re the ones who will make the difference, not the “core vote” who will keep going to their favourite destination.”
Full Cyprus Mail article...
“The ones who will survive the [financial] crisis will be those who are flexible and nimble-footed. The urgency being shown by competing countries doesn’t seem to be shared by Cyprus. We could have been flying tourists in before the crisis broke”, Berger told the Sunday Mail in an interview.
For the past several years, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) has been attempting to woo low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.
However the Irish airline, which recently touted charging passengers to use aircraft toilets, had been pushing for the government to lower airport fees.
“We hoped that the new President would make a difference to the way things were done, and be more open to new ideas”, he said.
“Is the government clawing back one-third of landing revenues the correct thing to do in the current situation? There is a crisis situation. You need to look aggressively at the government’s take of airport fees, which is high in relation to Cyprus’ main competitors. The recently-announced cut in the government share is too little too late. It is a huge lost opportunity.”
Berger said in the current crisis the global tourism sector was evolving quickly and developing new niches.
In this context, major industry players like Ryanair measure the CTO’s performance against their other potential partners. “The CTO’s budget should be tested for value for money. Making mistakes is OK, but keeping on making the same mistakes is not right.”
Ryanair first opened discussions with the CTO in January 2007 on bringing tourists to Cyprus on a scale that would cure the already-present problem of falling numbers. Discussions continued until February 2008, when the CTO decided that Ryanair’s requirements were “prohibitive, and not covered by any EU-approved scheme”.
There are also practical reasons why Ryanair won’t be planning UK flights to/from Cyprus, which take four to five hours compared to the low-cost carriers’ usual ceiling of three hours.
“You have built a new palace of an airport in Paphos, but you need to look at travel costs, fees and so on. To use an election metaphor, our “floating voters” will go where it’s cheaper, like Greece or Malta. They’re the ones who will make the difference, not the “core vote” who will keep going to their favourite destination.”
Full Cyprus Mail article...