TOURISM IN CYPRUS

QUESTION

Select an appropriate tourist destination (this destination may be an island, a country, a city, a resort, a festival or other major event) and by applying relevant theories and models, prepare a portfolio of evidence that:
1. Assesses current stage of tourism development (i.e. What tourism products are on offer? Is this an emerging or mature destination?)
2. Profiles current visitor demand and behaviour and considers future trends (i.e. main types of visitors, originating markets, increasing or declining figures?)
3. Positions relevant stakeholders in the local tourism system and evaluates their perceptions of local tourism development (e.g. Are they primary or secondary stakeholders? Are they in favour or against current/further tourism development?).
4. Makes recommendations for the future development of the destination (based on the information discussed in sections 1-3, in terms of both supply and demand)

SOLUTION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Cyprus is being explored in this portfolio. Since its independence in August 1960 Cyprus has developed as a tourist destination in the last five decades. Both international and domestic tourists are allured by the beautiful beaches, mountains, homeland, music, culture and cuisine of Cyprus.

Butler’s TALC (Tourism Area Life Cycle) model is being used here to evaluate the current situation of Cyprus in its life cycle as tourist destination. There has been remarkable imbalance between the homeland area and coastal area of Cyprus and Butler’s TALC model will be used to explore different stages of it. Beautiful locations, beaches and moderate climate of Cyprus has been attracting tourists in large number from across the globe, especially from Europe. This has been responsible for exhaustion of natural resources and tourism in Cyprus has attained a saturation level. The portfolio will discuss here the introduction of many alternative tourism products by Cyprus to increase flow of tourists in the region. It will be also discussed how the tourists, both international and domestic, are different from each other in behavior, demands, requirements and success of tourism industry depends upon the local supply which caters to their various requirements and demands with changing trends.

To maintain the status of most favorite tourist destination, the two prime stakeholders of the industry, the government of Cyprus and the Cyprus Tourism Organization, are set to do everything needed for it. These prime stakeholders must also make adequate policies and rules & regulations for the protection of the environment and well being of the local population. Any lack or ignorance in these policies and rules & regulations may cause unrest among the local population and they might turn hostile to the tourists which may affect the tourism industry substantially. They need to analyze their synergy with the international investors and consider other stakeholders seriously. It is recommended to introduce more diverse products for tourism with sustainable approach for example ‘jungle safari’, rural tourism, etc. Instead of sea- beach packages which are inexpensive other packages can be introduced which are luxurious and expensive like business tourism, golf tourism or sky tourism (Helicopters, Para gliding, sky diving, etc.). Application of suitable strategies and policies to each stage zone will help Cyprus in attracting more new tourists and retaining existing tourists. This will keep Cyprus away from any worrying issues and it will always be a preferred destination for the tourists on the tourist map.

INTRODUCTION

The contribution of tourism industry to the GDP of a country has increased tremendously across the globe. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimated arrival of over one billion new tourists by the end of year 2011 which is a record and it is further estimated that it may rise to 1.6 billion by 2020. This rate of development clearly underlines the potential which the tourism industry has (Richter, 2010). There is a lack of separate statistical data to give any indication about alternative tourism but there is a clear indication of the growth of sustainable tourism. International and domestic tourists are becoming more aware about selecting their destinations and the countries across the world are planning strategies to attract the tourists to their countries by offering them alternative tourism, attractive packages to ensure their large share in the tourism market (Hatay, 2007, pp 22-23).

This portfolio will explore Cyprus as tourist destination and with reference to the Butler’s TALC model the level of development it has reached. This will also assess the demand and behavior of the tourists and products of tourism offered t them accordingly. Furthermore, it will also assess the role played by different stakeholders within the local tourism system and the scope of developing local tourism destinations (Clerides & Pashourtidou, 2007, pp 51-72). At the end of the portfolio recommendations are being made for sustaining in the tourism industry and finally conclusions. Books, websites, academic journals and other sources are being used as resources for the secondary research of this portfolio.

CASE STUDY CYPRUS

Cyprus is a beautiful island in the Mediterranean sea. It is also known as a Eurasian country. It is the third largest island in the region, both in population and area, after Sicily and Sardinia and surrounded by Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt.  It geographically lies in Asia but politically in Europe and it is also a member state of European Union (EU). The country is mainly divided into two parts- one part is under control of Republic of Cyprus which comprises 59% of the area and the other part is under control of Turkey and known as Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus comprising 36% of the area (Richter, 2010). It is the most popular tourist destination in the region. Cyprus has an advanced economy of very high income and very high index of human development.

Independence was attained by Cyprus in 1960 by Zurich and London agreement between Greece, Turkey and the UK (Hatay, 2007, pp; 22-23).

Cyprus has a temperate Mediterranean climate. The summers are hot and dry and winters are cool and wet. Mountains are scattered in the north and south of the country but it has significant plains in the central and south coastal regions. Administratively, Cyprus is divided into six parts and Turkey administers whole of Kyrenia and parts of Famagusta and Nicosia districts where as parts of Famagusta and Nicosia and whole of Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos districts are administered by Republic of Cyprus.

Map of Cyprus

1. 1.     CURRENT STAGE OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Tourism industry not only contributes substantially to the GDP of an economy but it also provides a lot of employment and growth in economy involving wide number of businesses, activities and stakeholders with time. Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) framework was introduced by Butler in 1980 which demonstrated six stages of evolution of tourism destination.

1.1  The Stage Assessment

Global recession discouraging visa regulations were responsible for fall in high spending foreign tourist’s in 2010which was balanced by sudden fall of tourists who originally wanted to visit Tunisia and Egypt. The declining trend of tourism in Cyprus was once again balanced by domestic tourists and tourists from other parts of the world (www.visitcyprus.biz, 2010). It is claimed that tourism in Cyprus is in developing stage but a minute analysis reveals the importance of being cautious and taking actions for exploring new and exciting products of tourism.

Cyprus needs to encourage tourism in its all the districts including the districts of Famagusta and Nicosia where it governs partly and districts of Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos where it governs completely. All these districts have beautiful locations, but they are still at the exploration stage. Akamas peninsula, Avia Napa which is considered as party town, Troodos mountains and Lefkara located in the foothills of the Troodos mountains are equally attractive tourist spots as the coastal Cyprus (www.visitcyprus.biz, 2010). They need to be developed and marketed properly with a strategic plan to attract tourists.

1.2  The Tourism Products

Cyprus Tourism Organization has planned a strategy to divert tourism from coastal areas of Cyprus to mainland of it. They have named it ‘the escapes’ which offers a complete package of stay in hotels, breakfasts, dinners, lunches at chosen restaurants, guided thematic excursions. The excursions include visits to museums, churches, monuments and other places of interest of this beautiful country of sceneries and soft trails (Rodriguez & Lopez, 2008). This strategy of Cyprus Tourism Organization has attracted both international and domestic tourists. It had made tourism a year round business and brought opportunity to inner land of Cyprus for development.

1.2.1       The golf tourism

Cyprus has a number of beautiful golf courses with green lush and scenic beauties to attract both international and domestic tourists. Golf tourism is attracting tourists who have interest in golf. This serves the dual purpose for the tourists- they enjoy their holidays with their family as well as their favorite game (CTO, 2007). Cyprus Tourism Organization has built a number of good hotels of different range near golf courses in a manner that they don’t destroy the scenic beauty of the place.

1.2.2       The breathtaking mountain trail tourism

The scattered mountains in the north and south of Cyprus have provided opportunity to Cyprus Tourism Organization to attract both international and domestic tourists for breathtaking mountain trail tourism. They have started a campaign worldwide to attract tourists for mountain trekking, paragliding, sky diving, mountaineering, etc (CTO, 2007). It has attracted many tourists from across the world as well as domestic tourists who love adventures. These adventurous activities have opened new doors for the scope of tourism in Cyprus.

1. 2.     CURRENT VISITOR DEMAND AND BEHAVIOR

When people plan for tourism they keep a few factors in their mind when they select a place to visit. Those factors are – whether the place will provide the adequate rest they need r not, will the place be suitable for their health or not, will the place be adventurous or not, will there be safety or not, etc. These are called push factors and these push factors are very important to make a tourist desirous to travel. In fact, they are illuminating factor for tourist behavior. Besides these push factors there are some pull factors as well (Gonzalez & Comesana, 2007, pp 153-160). Pull factors are – whether they would get complete relaxation or not, will they get their desired food or not, whether they would get comfortable accommodation or not, what are the cultural resources, what are the natural attractions, etc. pull factors are enticing tourists to decide about their destinations. Demand and behavior of the tourists are vital for destinations as the choices are made on the basis of these factors. Hence, there is a great need to analyze the demand and behavior of tourists. Adequate efforts should be made to improve the image of the destination and to be loyal to the tourists for their contentment. For conducting evaluation diverse variables can be considered such as nationality, demographics, and target groups as women, senior travelers, back packers, etc (Butler, 2006).

Cyprus Tourism Organization has made considerable effort to attract tourists for various alternative tourisms but Cyprus is still recognized as a beach and party destination by the tourists across the globe including domestic tourists.

Tourists can be encouraged to opt for a multi driven destination as relaxation for entire family combined with sports, fun, adventure and historical monuments. A visitor’s preferences change according to the life cycle of his family (Gonzalez & Comesana, 2007, pp 153-160).

Cyprus has been preferred by people of young age and business class. Students swarm to Cyprus every year. Percentage of mare tourists is much higher than that of females. This reflects that Cyprus is still recognized for its beaches and parties. Considerable effort is required to attract tourists of different groups.

Tourism has declined recently in Cyprus for multiple reasons. Most importantly it has declined due to economic meltdown and secondly many other new tourist destinations have come with new and exciting offers and they have been able to divert considerable number of tourists to their destinations.

1. 3.     STAKEHOLDERS

For a tourist a destination means a compact package of several elements just like a puzzle. Freeman proposed the stakeholder theory for organizations in 1984, on a much more expanded level this theory can be applied as tourism has become a very complex industry now. Each involved party can be considered as a ‘puzzle piece’ and hence they can be held responsible for a positive tourist experience (Dinnie & Fola, 2007). Since this is quite a complex task therefore key stakeholders related to tourism are divided primarily into two groups- primary and secondary groups, that too without discriminating exactly who belongs to which group. Hence the needs of stakeholders are better understood by interactions, while efforts are made to manage local resources and sustain in the competitive market.

3.1  The Master Plan

Many attempts have been made for creating a regional plan or a master plan. The master plan should include the development of alternative and rural tourism in Cyprus. There have been substantial changes, in almost all countries of the world,  in the laws related to environment for its protection. Growth in tourism cannot be expected with adequate environment. Cyprus has been known for its wonderful environment but recently substantial changes have been recognized like encroachment on the sea beaches, constructions in forest areas, etc (Gonzalez & Comesana, 2007, pp 153-160). These factors are hazardous for any environment and if Cyprus wants to retain its image of clean environment it would need to come up with a master plan which has strict laws to prohibit any actions as such. The master plan should also include a blue print of development of different alternative tourism and rural tourism.

3.2  Primary Stakeholders

Tourism in Cyprus contributes substantially to its GDP and an important industry for economic growth, providing employment to many and earning foreign exchange, thus the government of the Republic of Cyprus plays a crucial role through the Cyprus Tourism Organization for the development of this industry. The government of the Republic of Cyprus has plans of building some international airports in different districts of Cyprus, a cross country network of metro railways, many hotels of different range, wide roads, etc (Dinnie, 2008).

The government of the Republic of Cyprus has plans to provide some relaxation in visa rules for many countries. Visa rules for European countries are already liberal in Cyprus and that is the main reason of large number of European tourists swarming to Cyprus.

The government of the Republic of Cyprus is also planning for the citizen of Cyprus so that they should not feel marginalized if excessive attention is given to tourists. Facilities like water supply, electricity should not be provided to the tourists at the cost of the locals rather they should also avail the similar facilities (Dinnie & Fola, 2007). Proper waste management is required to keep the local people away from any unrest as hotels and tourists produce a lot of garbage.

3.3  Secondary Stakeholders

Industries and businesses of Cyprus understand the importance of tourism industry in Cyprus and they work hand in hand with the natives and the international organizations together for the development of golf tourism, mountain trail tourism, wild life tourism and many other alternative tourism. They understand its need because their businesses and industries are also benefitted by the development of tourism in Cyprus (Dinnie & Fola, 2007).

Environmental organizations whether national or international monitor the environmental conditions of Cyprus closely and provide their suggestions when needed. Various other organizations monitor important factors like climatic changes, effects of excessive use of electricity, water, etc. and whether the waste is managed properly or not. They all contribute tremendously, directly or indirectly, for the development of tourism in Cyprus.

1. 4.     RECOMMENDATIONS

In the recent years tourism industry has developed substantially in Cyprus with a considerable number of increases in both international and domestic tourists. The growth in tourism has its counterproductive sequences also. The Cyprus tourism will have to meet with the counterproductive consequences. The industry needs to focus more on quality instead of focusing on quantity (Parent & Deephouse, 2007, pp 1-23). Concentration of quality is beneficial in many ways- it will increase the repetition of clients, it will also increase the period of their stay and more importantly it will increase substantially the per head expenses made by them. This will reinvent the tourism industry of Cyprus as now the class will follow the mass. The marketing of tourism should focus on improvement in the quality, services and environment to attain the sustainable growth of tourism. Focusing marketing only on the product, price and place of the tourism destination might give a quick growth but it will not be sustainable. Cyprus Tourism organization should make other advanced strategy for development of tourism than to focusing only on satisfaction of customers and stakeholders (Van Woerkun & Arts, 2008, pp 197-211). If strategy is made for the development of rural tourism and mountain trail tourism, it will provide opportunity to diversify the offer involving local residents. Cyprus has been known for years as an ideal venue of business and leisure, hence it gives an opportunity of establishing modern convention centers in the country (Witt, 1990).

1. 5.     CONCLUSIONS

The objective of this portfolio was to highlight the issues which may affect the development of tourism in Cyprus. Butler’s TALC was used to make the concept clear and for better understanding of the subject. Butler’s TALC was applied to assess the current situation, demand and supply prospects of the industry as well as key stakeholders associated with it. It has been established in this portfolio that there is a great imbalance between the coastal tourism and the homeland tourism in Cyprus (Diedrich & Buades, 2009, pp 512-521). It means a suitable situation for even mature tourist destinations which are reaching their saturation to co- exist of several stages as exploration, consolidation or rejuvenation. Number of traditional tourists is decreasing but it is balanced by the exploration of new markets. This also suggests that policies which have been implemented for the improvement have not been effective. This may not be surprising for many because the strategic plans made so far supported infrastructure, promotion of tourism and investment. They were not made to support either environmental or social sustainability (Manente & Pechlaner, 2006, pp; 235-253). The positive side of the discussion is that despite all the odds the tourism industry in Cyprus is growing and if the issues which may affect the growth are solved adequately it may give a sudden sustainable growth to the tourism industry of Cyprus. It will rule out any possibility of decline in the growth rate of tourism industry of Cyprus.

References                       

1. Butler, R.W. (2006). “The Origins of the Tourism Area Life Cycle”. Channel View Publications, Vol 1.
2. Cyprus Tourism Organisation. (2007). “Revised Strategic Plan for Tourism Development 2003-2010”, October 2007 (in Greek).
3. Clerides, S. and Pashourtidou, N. (2007). “Tourism in Cyprus: Recent Trends and Lessons from the Tourist Satisfaction Survey”.  Cyprus Economic Policy Review, Vol 1, 2, pp; 51-72.
4. Dinnie, K. and Fola, M. (2009). “Branding Cyprus: A Stakeholder Identification Perception”, 7^th International Conference on Marketing, Athens Institue for Education and Research.
5. Dinnie, K. (2008).  “Nation Branding, Concepts, Issues, Practice”. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
6. Diedrich, A. and Buades, E.C. (2009). “Local Perceptions of Tourism as Indicators of Destination Decline”. Tourism Managment, Vol 30, pp; 512-521.
7. González, M. E. A., Comesaña, L. R. and Brea, J. A. F. (2007) “Assessing tourist behavioural intentions through perceived service quality and customer satisfaction”, Journal of Business Research, 60, pp; 153-60.
8. Hatay, M. (2007). “Is the Turkish Cypriot Population Shrinking?”. International Peace Research Institute. pp. 22–23.
9. Manente, M., & Pechlaner, H. (2006). “How to define, identify and monitor the decline of tourist destinations: towards an early warning system”. In: R. Butler (Ed.), The tourism are life cycle: Conceptual and theoretical issues, Vol. 2 Cleveland: Channel View Publications, pp; 235–253.
10. Parent, M.M. and Deephouse, D.L. (2007). “A Case Study of Stakeholder Identification and Prioritization by Managers”.  Journal of Business Ethics, Vol 75, 1, pp; 1-23.
11. Richter, H. (2010). “A Concise History of Modern Cyprus 1878–2009”. Rutzen.
12. Rodriguez, J.R.O and Lopez, E.P. (2008). “The Sustainability of Island Destinations”. Tourism Management, Vol 29, pp; 53-65
13. Van Woerkum, C. and Aarts, N. (2008). “Staying connected: The communication between organizations and their environment”.  Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol 13, 2, pp; 197-211.
14. Witt, S.F. (1990). “Tourism in Cyprus: Balancing the Benefits and Costs”. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd, pp; 37-45.
15. www.visitcyprus.biz

JE36

But you can order it from our service and receive complete high-quality custom paper.  Our service offers Tourism management  essay sample that was written by professional writer. If you like one, you have an opportunity to buy a similar paper. Any of the academic papers will be written from scratch, according to all customers’ specifications, expectations and highest standards.”