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Tourism in Cyprus: Challenges and opportunities

Article  in  Tourism Geographies · January 2001

DOI: 10.1080/14616680010008711

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Tourism Geographies 3(1), 2001, 64–86

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1111
2 2
Tourism in Cyprus: challenges and
3 3
4 4 opportunities
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9 Richard Sharpley
10 10 Newcastle Business School, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK
11 11
12 12
13 13 Abstract
14 14
15 15 Islands have long been popular tourist destinations, their physical and climatic
16 16 characteristics combining with the less tangible elements of ‘island-ness’ to create
17 17 a special allure for tourists. As a result, many islands have turned to tourism as
a means of social and economic development, with tourism frequently becoming
18 18 the dominant economic sector. However, such a reliance on tourism has proved
19 19 to be problematic for many island destinations, frequently reecting the centre –
20 20 periphery dependency model of development. As this paper demonstrates, Cyprus
21 21 is no exception. Since the 1960s and despite internal political turmoil, the island
22 22 has grown into a popular Mediterranean summer sun destination. At the same
time, tourism has provided the foundation for rapid and successful economic
23 23 growth, but the island has also become increasingly dependent upon tourism and
24 24 upon a small number of major markets and tour operators. Nevertheless, as the
25 25 paper argues, signiŽcant opportunities exist for the future development of tourism
26 26 in Cyprus. In particular, whilst there is an evident need for more effective plan-
27 27 ning and control at the national level, it is suggested that, contrary to conventional
wisdom (and current Cyprus tourism policy), efforts should be made not to diver-
28 28 sify but to consolidate and strengthen existing core markets.
29 29
30 30
31 31 Keywords: island tourism, dependency, tourism in Cyprus
32 32
33 33
34 34
Introduction
35 35
36 36
Islands, according to King (1993: 14), are a ‘most enticing form of land.
37 37
Symbol of the eternal contest between land and water . . . islands suggest
38 38
mystery and adventure; they inspire and exalt’. They have also long
39 39
been popular tourist destinations. The physical and climatic characteristics
40 40
41 41
1142 42
Tourism Geographies ISSN 1461–6688 print/ISSN 1470-1340 online © 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd
43 43 http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
44
1144 DOI: 10.1080/14616680010008711

64
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 65
1 of islands, combined with the less tangible elements of ‘island-ness’ –
2 insularity, distance and tradition, create a particular allure to ever-increas-
3 ing numbers of tourists (Conlin and Baum 1995; Lockhart 1997a). It is not
4 surprising, therefore, that, faced with a variety of constraints to socio-eco-
5 nomic development, many island micro-states have come to regard tourism
6 as an integral and effective element of their development policies. Indeed,
7 as Lockhart (1997a: 4) observes, reliance upon tourism as a means of devel-
8 opment is almost universal in an island context, to the extent that in more
9 than half the islands within the developing world ‘gross receipts from
10 tourism are larger than all visible exports put together’ (King 1993: 28).
11 However, many of those factors that constitute the touristic appeal of
12 islands also represent challenges to the longer-term success of tourism-
13 related development policies (MacNaught 1982; Bastin 1984; Wilkinson
14 1989; Milne 1992; Lockhart et al. 1993; Conlin and Baum 1995; Briguglio
15 et al. 1996). TypiŽed by, amongst other factors, small geographical size,
16 distance and isolation from metropolitan centres, a limited economic base,
17 a lack of resources and, frequently, a lack of revenue for imports, island
18 economies often become dependent upon a dominant tourism sector.
19 Indeed, there is a degree of inevitability about tourism coming to domi-
20 nate the social and economic environments of islands (Wilkinson 1989;
21 Milne 1997). At the same time, the stability and growth of tourism itself
22 in island micro-states frequently becomes dependent upon external factors
23 with, for example, historical or colonial links, the distance from main
24 markets and a dependency on overseas airlines, limiting the extent of local
25 control over tourism development. As a result, both the development
26 process in general and the characteristics of the tourism industry in partic-
27 ular are widely considered, in the context of island micro-states, to reect
28 the centre – periphery dependency model of development (Høivik and
29 Heiberg 1980; Britton 1982, 1987; Opperman 1993).
30 Of course, not all islands experience the challenges of dependency to the
31 same degree, nor are they restricted only to islands. Nevertheless, as Milne
32 (1997) observes, the ‘vicious cycle’ of dependency represents an existing or
33 potential challenge to most island tourism destinations and, as the follow-
34 ing case study demonstrates, Cyprus is no exception. However, it does not
35 represent an insurmountable challenge. Indeed, the purpose of this paper
36 is to demonstrate that, even where a degree of dependency exists, there are
37 opportunities for the future successful development of tourism.
38
39
40 Tourism in Cyprus
41
42 The development of tourism in the Republic of Cyprus has been, at Žrst
43 sight, a remarkable success story. In 1960, the year the island achieved
1114 independence from British rule, just 25,000 visitor arrivals were recorded.
 66 Sha rpl ey
111 Table 1 Cyprus tourist arrivals and receipts 1980–90
2
Average Average
3 Arrivals (thousands) annual Receipts ($USm) annual
4 growth (%) growth (%)
5
1980 1990 1980–90 1980 1990 1980–90
6
7 World 285,000 429,000 4.2 102,000 249,000 9.3
8 Europe 196,000 275,000 3.5 62,000 136,000 8.3
9
Cyprus 353 1,561 16.0 203 1,258 23.0
10
11 Source: CTO (1990)
12
13
14 By 1973, this number had risen to over 260,000, representing an annual
15 growth rate in excess of 20 per cent. The corresponding Žgure for global
16 arrivals over the same period was 8 per cent. The Turkish invasion and
17 subsequent occupation of the northern third of the island in 1974 had
18 devastating and well-documented impacts on the Cypriot economy, in
19 general, and on the tourism sector, in particular (Andronikou 1979;
20 Gillmor 1989; Lockhart 1993). Nevertheless, the island soon re-estab-
21 lished itself as a major Mediterranean destination, although tourism
22 development was, and continues to be, concentrated primarily in the
23 southern two-thirds of the island (Ioannides 1992; Lockhart 1997b;
24 Altinay & Biçak 1998). As Table 1 demonstrates, the 1980s in particular
25 witnessed an annual growth in tourist arrivals and receipts of 16 per cent
26 and 22 per cent respectively, outstripping global rates (4.2% and 9.3%)
27 and signiŽcantly exceeding the expectations of both plannings and tour
28 operators (Wilson 1988; CTO 1990).
29 This is not to suggest that the northern, Turkish sector, self-proclaimed
30 in 1983 as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), has not
31 experienced something of a tourism revival of its own. Following the divi-
32 sion of the island in 1974, arrivals fell to less than 20,000 in 1975 (Akis
33 et al. 1996). Since then, as discussed shortly, tourist arrivals have gradu-
34 ally increased, reaching almost 183,300 by 1998 (Warner 1999). Moreover,
35 in 1996 earnings from tourism reached $US175.6 million, representing
36 23 per cent of GNP (Kibris 1998). However, not only does tourism in
37 the TRNC remain far less developed than in the Greek sector but also
38 represents a relatively small proportion of touristic activity on the island
39 as a whole. For example, international (as opposed to Turkish) arrivals
40 in the TRNC in 1998 accounted for just 2.6 per cent of total arrivals in
41 Cyprus. Therefore, for the purposes of this paper, the discussion focuses
42 primarily on tourism in the Republic of Cyprus.
43 Given the rapid growth of tourism to Cyprus, it is not surprising that
1144 tourism has also become an increasingly important element of the govern-
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 67
1 ment’s economic growth and development policies. In 1960, the island’s
2 economy displayed many symptoms of underdevelopment (Witt 1991) and
3 GDP amounted to £CY94.7m, of which tourism’s contribution was just
4 2.5 per cent. By 1995, GDP had reached £CY3905m, per capita GDP
5 was £CY6,142 (approximately $US11,500), and Greek Cypriots enjoyed
6 the third highest standard of living of all Mediterranean countries after
7 France and Italy. (In comparison, per capita GDP in the TRNC was just
8 $US4,222 in 1996 (Kibris 1998), indicating the huge socio-economic gulf
9 that has emerged between the two sectors of the island.) This dramatic
10 economic growth in the Republic largely mirrored the expansion of the
11 tourism sector; by the mid-1990s, tourism’s contribution to GDP had risen
12 to 20 per cent and accounted for 54 per cent of invisible exports and
13 40 per cent of total exports. Moreover, tourism has also been a major
14 factor in the maintenance of low levels of unemployment – just 3.1 per
15 cent in 1996 – with over one quarter of the working population employed
16 directly or indirectly in tourism. Since the early 1990s, however, this appar-
17 ently successful development of tourism has been tempered by a number
18 of factors. For example, arrival Žgures, which fell by some 11 per cent
19 in 1991 as a direct result of the Gulf War (CTO 1992), have been virtu-
20 ally stagnant since 1992. Indeed, 1996 arrivals fell back to the 1992 level,
21 although 1998 witnessed a 6.5 per cent rise over the previous year
22 (Department of Statistics and Research 1999). Tourist arrivals also demon-
23 strate alarming trends in terms of main source markets, seasonality, length
24 of stay and average spend, whilst rising costs on the island have put
25 increasing pressure on proŽt levels within the tourism sector. Moreover,
26 although it has been claimed that Cyprus has avoided some of the prob-
27 lems experienced by other island tourism destinations (Kammas and
28 Salehi-Esfahani 1992), there is increasing concern about the extent to
29 which the economy of Cyprus has, in fact, become reliant on tourism
30 (Seekings 1997). This suggests that the island has succumbed to the
31 allegedly inevitable problems of dependency referred to earlier. At the
32 same time, concern has also been raised over the environment conse-
33 quences of the unbridled growth in tourism, future demands on the island’s
34 natural and human resources and, hence, the longer-term viability of
35 tourism in Cyprus (Apostolides 1996).
36 These problems have not gone unrecognized by the Cypriot tourism
37 authorities. The latest tourism strategy, whilst accepting that tourism has
38 become the primary engine driving the economy, proposes a number of
39 policies designed to overcome many of the current challenges at the same
40 time as providing a stable foundation for the future development of
41 tourism. However, many of the proposed ‘solutions’ differ little from those
42 put forward in previous policy documents and, as the following section
43 demonstrates, many of the problems and challenges faced by Cypriot
1114 tourism remain unresolved.
 68 Sha rpl ey
111 Tourism in Cyprus: the challenges
2
3 Two factors have always had, and continue to have, a profound effect on
4 the development of tourism in Cyprus. First, the island is located in the
5 eastern Mediterranean 105 km west of Syria, 380 km north of Egypt and
6 75 km south of Turkey (Figure 1). This proximity to the politically turbu-
7 lent Middle East region means that tourism to Cyprus is highly susceptible
8 to exogenous political factors; for example, renewed tensions between Iraq
9 and the United States early in 1998 caused a temporary fall in bookings
10 (Wood 1998). Perhaps, more importantly, the island is also a peripheral
11 summer-sun destination, relatively distant from its core northern European
12 markets. As a result, holidays in Cyprus are, on average, roughly 15 per
13 cent more expensive than in competitor destinations, a factor which has
14 become increasingly signiŽcant in recent years as the island has developed
15 into a mainstream, summer-sun destination.
16 Second, internal political instability, culminating in the Turkish invasion
17 in 1974 and the continuing failure to Žnd a solution to the so-called ‘Cyprus
18 Problem’, have directly inuenced the rate and characteristics of tourism
19 development on the island as a whole. In particular, development has been
20 both rapid and spatially concentrated in the south coast resorts between
21 Paphos in the west and Agia Napa/Protaras in the east (Figure 1). In stark
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
1144 Figure 1
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 69
1 comparison, the once popular areas of Kyrenia and Famagusta in the TRNC
2 have remained relatively undeveloped (Lockhart 1993; Mansfeld & Kliot
3 1996; Warner 1999). Although arrivals in the TRNC have increased over
4 the last decade, numbers remain low in comparison to the south; further-
5 more, over 65 per cent of arrivals in 1998 were from the Turkish main-
6 land and were, in effect, ‘domestic’ arrivals. Similarly, in 1998 bed capacity
7 in the TRNC totalled 8,500, representing a 150 per cent increase since
8 1977. However this remains less than one tenth of the total number of
9 licensed bedspaces in the Republic, whilst the average occupancy rate, at
10 37 per cent in 1998, also remains low (Warner 1999).
11 A number of commentators have addressed the challenges of tourism
12 development in the TRNC, arising primarily from its political isolation
13 (Lockhart 1994; Akis and Warner 1994; Altinay and Biçak 1998; Warner
14 1999). Whilst the ‘Cyprus Problem’ remains unresolved, it is likely that
15 the tourism industry in the TRNC will continue to face signiŽcant prob-
16 lems. At the same time, however, tourism development in the Republic
17 may, as a result, also be hindered. For example, many of the island’s
18 important cultural sites are located in the north, limiting the Republic’s
19 ability to diversify into heritage/cultural tourism, whilst the lack of suit-
20 able tourism development sites in the south is matched by the availability
21 of such sites in the north. Moreover, holidays in the TRN are relatively
22 cheaper than in the Republic, potentially attracting tourists who might
23 otherwise travel to the south coast resorts.
24 Beyond these political and locational factors, however, an analysis of
25 the inherent characteristics of tourism development in the Republic of
26 Cyprus reveals a number of more immediate and signiŽcant challenges to
27 the future health and stability of the tourism sector.
28
29 Arrivals
30 Following exceptional growth in arrivals during the 1980s, progress in
31 the 1990s has been slow and erratic (see Table 2). The declines in 1991
32
33 Table 2 Tourist arrivals and receipts 1990–8
34
Year Arrivals (thousands) Receipts (£CYm)
35
36 1990 1,561 573
1991 1,285 476
37
1992 1,991 694
38 1993 1,841 696
39 1994 2,069 810
40 1995 2,100 810
41 1996 1,950 780
1997 2,060 830
42
1998 2,222 880
43
1114 Source: CTO (1990–7); Department of Statistics and Research (1999)
 70 Sha rpl ey
111 and 1996 resulted from, respectively, the Gulf conict and from adverse
2 ‘publicity that was given to certain events that took place in Cyprus in
3 1996’ (CTO 1997: 8). The latter included political demonstrations and
4 the resultant death of a Greek Cypriot on the north–south ‘border’, and
5 violence associated with British Army personnel in the resort of Agia
6 Napa. Despite a record level of arrivals in 1998, the growth in arrivals
7 remains at, the relative expense and distance from major markets and
8 the loss of product exclusivity being oft-quoted causes (Ayres 1998).
9 This weakness is, however, exacerbated by other arrivals characteris-
10 tics. The UK has long been the dominant market, accounting for 47.4 per
11 cent of arrivals in 1970 and peaking at 54.6 per cent in 1992. In the
12 following years, consistent with the Cyprus Tourism Organisation’s (CTO)
13 policy of diversiŽcation into new markets, particularly Eastern Europe,
14 the UK’s share fell back to 36.9 per cent by 1996. However, along with
15 a decline in arrivals from Eastern Europe, the UK’s share had climbed
16 back to almost 46 per cent by 1998, with Scandinavia and Germany each
17 continuing to account for roughly 10 per cent of arrivals. Thus, despite
18 efforts to the contrary, Cyprus remains highly dependent on its traditional
19 markets and, hence, susceptible to changes in demand within those
20 markets.
21 Additionally, the average length of stay has declined during the 1990s,
22 falling from 12.5 days in 1991 to 10.92 days in 1996. Though not unique
23 to Cyprus – Malta, for example, has experienced a similar decline
24 (Cockerell 1996) – this suggests that total annual tourist nights spent on
25 the island decreased from around 25 million in 1992 to roughly 21 million
26 in 1996. In short, the real volume of tourism fell by some 16 per cent.
27 A further problem is the stubbornly seasonal ow of arrivals. In 1996,
28 more than a quarter of all tourists arrived in the peak months of July
29 and August, with the summer quarter from July to September accounting
30 for 37 per cent of total annual arrivals. Conversely, just 16 per cent of
31 total arrivals visited the island between November and February, reecting
32 a pattern that has remained constant since the mid-1980s. Efforts have
33 been made by the CTO to promote tourism in the off-peak season, in
34 particular through conference tourism, yet at less than 2 per cent of total
35 arrivals this market remains relatively insigniŽcant. These seasonality
36 patterns have a distinct local impact on the island. The south-east beach
37 resorts of Protaras and Agia Napa which, together attract over one third
38 of all tourists to the island, become ghost towns during the winter months,
39 with many hotels closing down. This is primarily because their main
40 markets are the summer-sun, beach tourists and therefore they are not
41 featured in tour operators’ winter programmes. Conversely, other resorts,
42 especially Paphos (located closer to important cultural attractions and
43 traditionally a family resort), attract a winter clientele and remain open
1144 throughout the year.
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 71
1 Mode of transport
2
3 One of the most signiŽcant factors in the rapid growth of tourism to
4 Cyprus, particularly since the mid-1980s, has been the expansion of the
5 ITC (inclusive tour by charter ight) sector. Until 1986, the government
6 operated a no-charter ight policy in order to protect the national carrier,
7 Cyprus Airways, which also enjoyed a monopoly on its routes from both
8 Larnaca and Paphos into British regional airports (Wilson 1988). The
9 purpose of these restrictions was not only to maximize the economic bene-
10 Žts of tourist travel to Cyprus, but also to support the CTO’s traditional
11 policy of marketing the island to higher-spending tourists.
12 From 1986, however, charter ights were permitted to operate into the
13 island and, by 1990, a total of 32 charter companies from twelve coun-
14 tries were ying into Cyprus (Ioannides 1992: 725). Cyprus Airways also
15 established its own charter subsidiary, Eurocypria, in 1992 in order to
16 compete with overseas charter companies and by 1996 this airline claimed
17 some 9 per cent of the UK charter market to Cyprus. Nevertheless, sched-
18 uled ights into Cyprus remain highly restricted in order to protect Cyprus
19 Airways’ routes and load factors, whilst the Cypriot authorities continue
20 to restrict the sale of seat-only tickets on charter ights on routes which
21 compete with the national carrier.
22 These policies have inuenced tourism in Cyprus in three ways. First,
23 the restrictive regime ‘helps explain the extraordinarily high proportion
24 of visitors travelling on inclusive tours’ (Seekings 1997: 42). Almost two
25 thirds of tourists travel on inclusive arrangements, whilst in 1997 over
26 80 per cent of UK arrivals and 100 per cent of Scandinavian arrivals were
27 on IT holidays. Second and, conversely, the potentially lucrative inde-
28 pendent market has been severely limited. Third, and most importantly,
29 Cyprus tourism has become overly dependent on a small number of over-
30 seas tour operators. Although a large number of operators carry tourists
31 to Cyprus, the market share of different operators is by no means equal.
32 Not surprisingly, the largest numbers are accounted for by British oper-
33 ators, three of which dominate the market. Table 3 indicates the main
34 operators’ shares of the 790,000 UK arrivals carried by British tour oper-
35 ators in 1997.
36 In terms of total arrivals in Cyprus, these percentages translate into
37 the fact that just four British tour operators carried 19 per cent of all
38 arrivals on the island in 1997. However, even this does not reveal the
39 true extent of the dependency of the Cypriot tourism industry on a small
40 number of primarily British-owned tour operators. Expansion through
41 acquisition has resulted in increasing concentration within the tour oper-
42 ating sector, with companies such as Airtours enjoying signiŽcant overseas
43 holdings. Indeed, virtually all Scandinavian arrivals in Cyprus are
1114 controlled by Airtours.
 72 Sha rpl ey
111 Table 3 Tour operators’ share of UK arrivals 1997
2
Tour operator Share of
3 arrivals (%)
4
5 Thomson 22
First Choice 13
6
Airtours 10
7 Sunworld 5
8 AGTA operatorsa 20
9 Other operators 10
10 (Independent travellers) (20)
11 a There are 20 UK-based tour operators owned by Greek Cypriots; they have
12 formed their own marketing group, the Association of Greek-Cypriot Travel Agents
13 (AGTA).
14 Source: CTO (1998)
15
16 Inevitably, the dominant position enjoyed by tour operators means they
17 are able to control the characteristics and ows of tourists to Cyprus. For
18 example, the CTO has long tried, largely unsuccessfully, to promote the
19 island as a cultural tourism destination. However, an analysis of the
20 brochures of 40 mainstream and specialist UK operators featuring Cyprus
21 revealed that the island is promoted primarily as a safe, welcoming summer
22 sun–sea–sand destination, with an emphasis on fun, relaxation and, given
23 its mythical association with Aphrodite, a hint of romance (Sharpley
24 1998a). This is supported by surveys which show that, on average, only
25 35 per cent of visitors make trips outside their resort; moreover, many of
26 these trips are to non-cultural sites (CTO 1993b). This would suggest that
27 Cyprus is not considered a cultural destination by a majority of visitors,
28 whilst poor interpretation and a signiŽcant lack of facilities at many
29 cultural sites, such as the Tombs of the Kings at Paphos, indicates that
30 marketing policies are not supported by investment in the sites themselves.
31 More signiŽcantly, tour operators have also been increasingly able to
32 dictate accommodation prices on the island. This has resulted primarily
33 from a largely self-inicted problem in Cyprus: the oversupply of accom-
34 modation facilities (Andronikou 1993a). However, the relaxation on
35 restrictions on charter ights in 1986 also served to refocus tourism devel-
36 opment from a qualitative to a quantitative basis, with a corresponding
37 emphasis on price competitiveness. Moreover, the collapse in 1994 of the
38 specialist operator Cypriana, which had enjoyed 25 per cent of the British
39 market to Cyprus, left the Cypriot market at the mercy of the major oper-
40 ators (see Skidmore 1994).
41 Thus, British tour operators are now able to exert downward pressure
42 on accommodation prices in Cyprus. Equally, operators from other major
43 markets, which have traditionally paid higher prices, particularly Germany
1144 and Scandinavia, are now also seeking lower prices (Katsouris 1998). At
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 73
1 the same time, recent years have witnessed signiŽcant cost increases within
2 the accommodation sector, representing, as the next section considers, one
3 of the major challenges facing the future development of tourism in
4 Cyprus.
5
6
7 Accommodation trends
8
9 The foundation of the rapid growth of tourism to Cyprus since 1975 has
10 been the no less rapid expansion of the accommodation sector. Prior to
11 the Turkish invasion in 1974, the majority of accommodation develop-
12 ment had occurred in Kyrenia and Famagusta; the invasion resulted in
13 the loss of 65 per cent of existing accommodation and 90 per cent of
14 that under construction (Andronikou 1986, 1987). Therefore, in 1975
15 there were just 3,976 bedspaces available, with just 38 per cent, or approx-
16 imately 1,500 bedspaces, in coastal resorts. Ten years later there were
17 38,921 licensed bedspaces and, by the end of 1997, there were a total of
18 84,368 licensed bedspaces available, of which 55 per cent were in star-
19 rated hotels and 45 per cent in apartments, villas, holiday villages and
20 other forms of licensed accommodation (CTO 1997). To this total must
21 be added roughly 3,000 bedspaces under construction, as well as the unli-
22 censed sector. The latter comprises privately owned apartments and private
23 homes that are rented to both domestic and overseas visitors on a self-
24 catering basis, with estimates of the number of bedspaces on offer varying
25 from 12,000 to 30,000 (Seekings 1997).
26 There has, then, been dramatic growth in the supply of accommoda-
27 tion facilities in Cyprus, encouraged initially by a range of Žnancial and
28 legislative incentives provided by a government anxious to rebuild the
29 tourism sector. However, despite underpinning the development of tourism
30 in Cyprus and supporting a thriving construction industry, this growth
31 has also been problematic, stemming primarily from inadequate planning
32 restrictions and the inability of the authorities to control the rate, char-
33 acter and distribution of accommodation development. This, in turn, has
34 resulted from a lack of formal structures for the implementation of poli-
35 cies at the national level (reected, as discussed in the following section,
36 in the lack of authority invested in the CTO) and a multi-layered system
37 of democratic government that not only leads to decision making according
38 to local, as opposed to national, interests but also that most decisions are
39 based upon short-term political objectives (Sharpley 1998b: 47). At the
40 same time, not only has the church, a major landowner in Cyprus, viewed
41 tourism accommodation development as a signiŽcant income generator,
42 but also many private landowners have sold land for tourism develop-
43 ment. Together, these factors have fuelled the rapid development of much
1114 of the available coastline on the island.
 74 Sha rpl ey
111 The lack of control over accommodation development has had a number
2 of repercussions on the tourism industry. First, much of the growth in the
3 supply of accommodation has been in the apartment/self-catering sector.
4 During the latter half of the 1980s, in particular, the supply of apartment
5 accommodation more than doubled, not surprisingly coinciding with a
6 rapid expansion of the self-catering market to Cyprus. More recently, and
7 following a shift in government policy towards favouring the development
8 of four- and Žve-star hotels (and consistent with the CTO’s long-held
9 policy of targeting middle to higher income tourists), it is the higher grade
10 hotel sector that has experienced most growth. However, since 1985 the
11 share of four- and Žve-star hotels of total hotel bedspaces has changed
12 little, reecting the island’s continuing popularity as a mass market beach
13 destination. Moreover, as one commentator warned, the development of
14 new four- and Žve-star capacity ‘by the end of 1994 will increase total
15 bed capacity by 22 per cent, meaning that tourist trafŽc during the next
16 three years must continue to grow at very high rates . . . if existing occu-
17 pancy rates are to be maintained’ (Andronikou 1993a: 69). This increase
18 in tourist trafŽc has not, of course, occurred.
19 This points to a second major problem, namely that the supply of
20 accommodation has outstripped demand. More simply stated, too many
21 hotels have been built. As evidence, at least two hotels in Limassol have
22 recently been converted into ofŽce blocks, whilst the CTO is now consid-
23 ering different forms of incentives to encourage hotel owners to redevelop
24 their properties for alternative uses. Nevertheless, new hotel development
25 continues apace with, for example, the 1,500-bed Athena Hotel due to
26 open in Paphos in the summer of 1999. Thus, in order to maintain occu-
27 pancy levels, particularly in higher grade hotels, heavy discounting has
28 taken place. Not only has this resulted in ‘the arrival of guests of a lower
29 “quality” than is usually appropriate for such hotels’ (Seekings 1997: 47)
30 but also it is widely accepted that, although hotel beds are being Žlled,
31 few, if any, hotels are making money. Indeed, although occupancy levels
32 rose in 1997, ‘proŽts vanished’ (Josephides 1997: 11). This has been
33 compounded by a trend away from full/half-board towards bed-and-break-
34 fast arrangements, placing further pressure on income and proŽtability.
35 Third, and related, the accommodation sector has experienced a
36 dramatic increase in operating costs, particularly payroll costs, during the
37 1990s. Indeed, in just Žve years between 1992 and 1997, the average cost
38 of labour in hotels rose by 94 per cent (Karis 1998). Following the
39 successful growth in tourism during the 1980s, the Cypriot economy
40 enjoyed virtually full employment to the extent that, in 1990, overseas
41 workers were ‘imported’ to Žll vacancies in the hotel sector during the
42 summer season. As a result, the two powerful trades union federations in
43 Cyprus, the Pancyprian Federation of Labour (PEO) and the Cyprus
1144 Workers Federation (SEK), which together represent over 75 per cent of
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 75
1 the country’s labour force (PIO 1997: 372), were able to negotiate wage
2 settlements that represented an average 15 per cent annual wage increase.
3 For hotel operators, this meant that payroll as a percentage of gross
4 revenue increased from between 28 and 35 per cent in the early 1980s
5 to well over 40 per cent and, in some cases, to almost 50 per cent in the
6 1990s (Andronikou 1993b; Wood 1998). Even more damaging, perhaps,
7 the unions also secured two rounds of three-year agreements for 1993–5
8 and 1996–8. This restricted the ability of employers to respond to short-
9 term changes in the market whilst, in the longer term, the only solution
10 has been to reduce employment levels in the sector. Thus between 1992
11 and 1997, average hotel employment in Cyprus fell from 91 to 64 staff
12 per 100 rooms (Karis 1998). The corresponding reduction in quality and
13 service has meant that Cyprus now offers a more homogeneous tourism
14 product; it is losing its competitive edge in quality and service, yet remains
15 expensive compared to its competitors.
16 In one attempt to counter the strength of the unions, a new breakaway
17 group, the Association of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises (ACTE) was estab-
18 lished by 25 of the larger hotels on the island to better represent their
19 interests – previously, the Cyprus Hotels Association (CHA) had repre-
20 sented all licensed accommodation suppliers and had accepted the unions’
21 demands. Nevertheless, the unions’ position remains powerful. For
22 example, in May 19999 an island-wide hotel strike was organized in
23 support of workers striking over the contracting-out of services in two
24 hotels (Molyva 1999). Thus, overall, accommodation providers remain
25 trapped in an economic vice between falling income and rising costs,
26 threatening longer-term investment and quality in the sector.
27 Finally, an important feature of accommodation development has been
28 its spatial concentration in coastal areas. For example, the southeast
29 Famagusta district, which includes the resorts of Protaras and Agia Napa,
30 has been transformed from an isolated rural community ‘virtually
31 unknown even to many Cypriots’ (Ionnides 1992: 722) into the island’s
32 most popular resort area. By 1997, it accounted for 40 per cent of total
33 bed capacity, followed by Paphos in the west with 24 per cent, the latter
34 having experienced a 50 per cent growth in bedspaces since 1991. Even
35 by 1992, it was observed that ‘virtually all prime sites of beach develop-
36 ment have already been developed or are earmarked for future
37 development’ (EIU 1992: 58).
38 Such concentrated development has brought about a variety of well-
39 documented social and environmental consequences, whilst placing
40 enormous pressure on the island’s human and natural resources (Witt
41 1991; Kammas 1993; Apostolides 1996). It has also limited the potential
42 beneŽts of tourism development in inland areas. At the same time, the
43 lack of overall planning and control has meant that, although hotels them-
1114 selves are, for the most part, of a high quality, a number of resort areas
 76 Sha rpl ey
111 as a whole suffer from a lack of infrastructural development. For example,
2 although each hotel in the popular Famagusta district pays approximately
3 30 cents per tourist/night in local taxes, amounting to around £CY45,000
4 annually for a 20-room hotel (Coursaris 1998), these funds are not chan-
5 nelled into local tourism infrastructural improvements. Conversely, the
6 municipal authorities in other resorts have adopted a more proactive
7 approach to tourism, promoting and investing in a number of tourism-
8 related projects.
9
10
11 The role of the CTO
12
13 Throughout this paper, reference has been made to the inability of the
14 CTO to translate policy into practice. OfŽcially, the role of the CTO is
15 ‘to organise and promote tourism in the Republic of Cyprus, by using all
16 possibilities and resources available’ (CTO 1997). Established in 1969, it
17 is a statutory body run by a nine-member Board of Directors which decides
18 upon tourism policy and related issues. Until 1992, the CTO was Žnanced
19 primarily by a 3 per cent tax and other charges on tourism establishments
20 in Cyprus. However, this has been replaced by a direct grant from the
21 government which, in 1997, amounted to £CY13.8 million. This was
22 supplemented by £CY1.9 million earned from licensing fees, commercial
23 activities and other sources (CTO 1997: 6).
24 With a staff of 250 employed both in Cyprus and overseas, the orga-
25 nization comprises four departments, namely, Administration, Planning,
26 Tourist Services and Marketing. Of these, the most important function is
27 marketing. Not only did this account for almost 64 per cent of the total
28 1997 budget, but it is also expected to become the organization’s sole
29 function in future years (Metaxa 1998). Conversely, less than 5 per cent
30 of the budget was spent on tourism organization and planning. Thus, the
31 primary activities of the CTO suggest that, beyond an advisory and consul-
32 tative role at governmental and tourism industry levels, it has little
33 inuence over tourism development on the island.
34 More speciŽcally, in those areas where it does play an active role, the
35 CTO enjoys little statutory authority to implement or control develop-
36 ment. For example, in the context of accommodation development, it has
37 the power to license and grade new accommodation units; it is not in the
38 position, however, to decide whether such units should be built in the
39 Žrst place. Rather, it is dependent upon the instruments of central govern-
40 ment for policy implementation. Thus, the CTO is reliant on a system
41 that, as has been pointed out, has proved to be ineffective in controlling
42 or guiding tourism development in Cyprus. Moreover, the CTO is also,
43 according to some commentators, handicapped by the fact that most of
1144 its Board Members are political appointees with little or no experience of
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 77
1 tourism. Certainly, the organization’s long-held policy that Cyprus should
2 target only the up-market tourist demonstrates a lack of recognition of
3 the changing position of the island within the international tourism market.
4 Thus, despite its prominence and signiŽcant level of state funding, the
5 CTO remains a relatively powerless body and, until such time it is awarded
6 greater authority or supported by more effective government control, it
7 is unlikely to address many of the challenges, summarized in the next
8 section, that tourism in Cyprus is facing.
9
10
11 Tourism in Cyprus: a summary of challenges
12
13 It is evident from the above that the future development of tourism in
14 Cyprus faces as a number of problems and challenges. Collectively, these
15 suggest that the island has become increasingly dependent on an economic
16 sector over which the authorities have insufŽcient control. More speciŽ-
17 cally:
18
l tourism has become the dominant sector of the of the Cypriot economy,
19
now contributing 20 per cent of GDP, approximately 40 per cent of
20
all exports and 25 per cent of employment;
21
l since 1960, tourist ows have proved to be highly susceptible to both
22
internal and external political and economic inuences;
23
l despite efforts to ameliorate the situation, Cyprus remains dependent
24
primarily on the UK, but generally on three main markets for over 60
25
per cent of arrivals. Of these, over 80 per cent travel on ITs, indicating
26
the inuencing of overseas tour operators in controlling the market;
27
l there is a continuing trend towards self-catering holidays indicating
28
that, since the mid-1980s, Cyprus has evolved into a mass market
29
summer-sun destination;
30
l although average per person per day expenditure is increasing, average
31
length of stay is decreasing. However, although greater numbers of
32
tourists are required to maintain overall receipts from tourism, statis-
33
tics indicate that arrivals Žgure have levelled out;
34
l the power of major tour operators and, internally, of the unions means
35
that most hotels are caught in the vicious circle of rising costs, falling
36
income and hence lower productivity. Unable to re-invest and having
37
to reduce staff levels, quality and service standards are falling, further
38
eroding the island’s competitiveness;
39
l the Cypriot tourism authorities have, for the most part, been unable
40
to impose strict planning restrictions over tourism development,
41
resulting in signiŽcant environmental and infrastructural consequences.
42
43 It would, of course, be logical to assume that not only is the current situ-
1114 ation one which the authorities would have wished to avoid, but also that
 78 Sha rpl ey
111 ofŽcial policies do exist to guide the effective and balanced development
2 of tourism. As the following section shows, this is indeed the case.
3 However, the paper goes on to argue that present policies do not neces-
4 sarily recognize the most realistic opportunities for the future.
5
6
7 Tourism policy in Cyprus
8
9 Tourism has long been identiŽed as an important means of achieving
10 economic and social growth and development in Cyprus. As a result,
11 tourism development policy, with explicit proposals with respect to the
12 nature and scope of tourism, has been an integral element of national
13 economic development plans, in particular since 1974. Initially, a series
14 of Five Year Emergency Economic Plans set out to reactivate the Cypriot
15 economy through tourism although, by the early 1980s, it was realized
16 that the redevelopment of tourism was becoming too successful. In partic-
17 ular, there was growing concern about the rapid development of
18 accommodation in coastal resorts which was outpacing infrastructural
19 developments and demonstrating scant regard for the environment
20 (Andronikou 1986: 127). New policies were therefore introduced to redi-
21 rect Žnancing towards supporting accommodation and associated
22 developments in the inland hill resorts and Žve-star hotels in Paphos. At
23 the same time, the CTO proposed a set of plans for tourism development,
24 with ‘the highest attention being given to the protection and enhancement
25 of the environment’ (Andronikou 1987: 49). These targeted the middle
26 to upper income tourists and set out plans for the slow growth of primarily
27 luxury hotels, built in areas enabling visitors to enjoy both coastal attrac-
28 tions and the cultural wealth of the island. This was supported by a
29 marketing policy aimed at conference tourism for Nicosia and special
30 interest tourism for the hill resorts, thereby relieving pressure on the coastal
31 resorts.
32 In practice, the opposite occurred. Not only did visitor arrivals increase
33 by an annual average of 16 per cent during the 1980s, but the highest
34 growth in accommodation was in the apartment sector, primarily in
35 Famagusta district. Nevertheless, many of the policy proposals were
36 embodied in the tourism section of the 1989–93 Economic Development
37 Plan which, anticipating the current situation, warned that ‘if the present
38 course of development is continued, it will in the long run have serious
39 adverse effects on the competitiveness of our tourist product in the inter-
40 national market’ (CPC 1989: 156). The overall aim of the Plan was to
41 slow the growth in tourism in combination with a variety of proposals
42 to upgrade and diversify the tourism product, to attract higher spending
43 tourists, to diminish the impacts of seasonality and to spread the bene-
1144 Žts of tourism around the island. Additionally, as a speciŽc objective, the
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 79
1 Plan sought ‘the basis for a more effective government intervention towards
2 the desired directions’ (CPC 1989: 157), something that still remains to
3 be achieved. Coinciding with the Plan, and in anticipation of a new
4 national policy for tourism, in 1989 the government also imposed a mora-
5 torium on new hotel developments. This, however, did not slow the growth
6 in the supply of accommodation as it did not cover the large number of
7 applications approved prior to the imposition of the moratorium. It was
8 therefore withdrawn in 1990 when the New Tourism Policy was intro-
9 duced.
10 The New Tourism Policy, addressing marketing policy, regulation of
11 accommodation development, the development of tourist facilities and
12 infrastructural development (CTO 1990) has essentially guided tourism
13 planning throughout the 1990s. It follows the CTO’s long-held objectives
14 of attracting a more diverse, higher spending customer base, encouraging
15 special interest tourism in less developed rural areas, promoting low season
16 markets and encouraging individual or non-organized tourism. Since 1990,
17 some of these policies have, in fact, been implemented. For example, two
18 golf courses have been opened near Paphos, three more are being estab-
19 lished elsewhere on the island, and a number of specialist tour operators
20 now offer golŽng holidays. Efforts have also been made to develop rural
21 tourism, with some 50 rural properties having been redeveloped into tradi-
22 tionally styled accommodation facilities. These are promoted by the Cyprus
23 Agrotourism Company, an organization heavily subsidized by the CTO
24 yet, although this project was a 1999 winner of British Airways’ Tourism
25 for Tomorrow awards, occupancy levels remain low.
26 However, signiŽcant differences remain between planned and actual
27 tourism development in Cyprus. In the early 1990s tourists arrivals
28 continued to grow rapidly, with the 1993 arrivals target exceeded in 1992
29 by 22 per cent. The desired level of receipts, however, was not achieved
30 until 1994, indicating that although the New Tourism Policy sought to
31 attract lower numbers of higher spending tourists, the opposite was
32 achieved. As discussed earlier, the dependence on traditional markets
33 remains, whilst the more recent stagnation in tourist arrivals has more to
34 do with exogenous forces than with the effective marketing policies.
35 Moreover, in terms of accommodation development, although there is
36 evidence of a shift towards higher grade hotels as desired (though not
37 necessarily towards higher spending tourists staying in those hotels), the
38 supply of licensed accommodation on the island increased by around 70
39 per cent between 1990 and 1996, primarily in coastal areas.
40 The most recent tourism policy, a strategic plan for tourism to 2010,
41 accepts that tourism has now become the engine driving the Cypriot
42 economy. It therefore sets out policies for the achievement of the long-
43 term sustainability of tourism based upon re-positioning Cyprus on the
1114 international tourism map, strategically targeting key market segments,
 80 Sha rpl ey
111 encouraging independent or specialist-operator tourism to reduce depen-
2 dency on larger operators, as well as developing a more cohesive and
3 integrated approach to planning and development of the island. However,
4 the basic and long-held aims and objectives, such as targeting higher
5 spending tourists, selling Cyprus as a quality destination, extending
6 the season and controlling accommodation development, remain the
7 same.
8
9
10 Opportunities
11
12 It is evident that, despite the existence of tourism policies in Cyprus, the
13 actual development of tourism has followed a course largely unrestricted
14 by such policies. As is the case with many island tourism destinations,
15 not only has the economy become increasingly dependent upon tourism,
16 but the Cypriot tourism industry itself has become increasingly dependent
17 upon its traditional markets and a small number of major tour operators.
18 More speciŽcally, the island is Žrmly established as a mass market, summer-
19 sun destination. Not only have efforts to diversity markets proved to be
20 relatively fruitless, but certain policies, such as encouraging low-season
21 and special interest tourism, have also met with little success. The agro-
22 tourism project, for example, has redirected investment away from the
23 major resorts yet, with a total of just 450 bedspaces currently available,
24 it is unlikely to be a major source of income for rural areas and will do
25 nothing to relieve the pressure on coastal resorts. At the same time, the
26 wisdom of developing golf courses in a country suffering acute water
27 shortages – in December 1998, the majority of the island’s reservoirs were
28 95 per cent empty – is questionable.
29 Nevertheless, although tourism in Cyprus faces signiŽcant challenges,
30 there are two major opportunities for the successful future develop-
31 ment of tourism on the island. The extent to which both of these may be
32 exploited depends to a great extent upon the ability of the authorities to
33 implement tourism policies on a national scale, a factor which itself is
34 dependent upon all sectors of the Cypriot tourism industry working
35 towards recognized goals within a spirit of agreement and co-operation.
36 Whether this is realistic remains to be seen, although the establishment of
37 a new tourism committee by President Clerides in early 1998 is a positive
38 development.
39 The prime opportunity for tourism in Cyprus is market consolidation.
40 Despite efforts to diversify, thereby reducing dependency on both British
41 tourists and tour operators, the UK market remains dominant. This is
42 not surprising. In addition to the historical links between the two countries
43 and the continuing presence of British Forces in two sovereign bases, a
1144 number of factors increase the appeal of the island to (hence the island’s
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 81
1 dependency upon) the UK market. It is seen as both familiar and safe;
2 English is widely spoken and cars drive on the left-hand side of the
3 road. Currency – the Cyprus Pound – is the ‘same’ and despite the overall
4 prices of holidays, costs on the island itself remain relatively low.
5 Furthermore, many Cypriots working in the industry were born or brought
6 up in the UK. In short, it can be argued that Cyprus is a uniquely British
7 destination.
8 Therefore, although it contradicts both the conventional wisdom
9 of market diversiŽcation to reduce dependency and also current CTO
10 policy, in the short term it may be more sensible for Cyprus to consolidate
11 and strengthen its existing core markets, in particular the UK, as well as
12 Scandinavia and Germany. Within these, speciŽc segments such as walking,
13 weddings or golf may be targeted, but the main market is likely to remain
14 the summer IT tourist seeking the ‘traditional’ sun–sea–sand package. This
15 suggests that the latest policy of encouraging tourism through smaller,
16 specialist operators may be counter-productive. Indeed, working with the
17 major operators may prove to be the most effective means of not only
18 consolidating existing business but also increasing low-season or winter-
19 sun arrivals and developing newer niche products, such as two-centre
20 rural–beach holidays in association with the agrotourism project. In short,
21
the dependency on major markets and tour operators represents not a
22
threat but an opportunity.
23
The second important opportunity, in addition to the consolidation
24
of core markets, will arise from the inevitable relaxation of aviation
25
restrictions as Cyprus moves closer to EU membership. Not only will this
26
go some way to reducing the dependence on tour operators through the
27
encouragement of independent tourism, but it may also lead to the devel-
28
opment of timeshare accommodation on the island. To date this has been
29
opposed by the powerful hotel associations. However, as timeshare repre-
30
31 sents one of the fastest growing sectors of international tourism and
32 allegedly generates higher levels of tourist spending than hotel-based
33 tourism (WTO 1996: 63), it is likely to be viewed as an attractive propo-
34 sition. Greater competition within the accommodation sector may also go
35 some way to diminishing the inuence of the unions, whilst the growth
36 of the independent sector would provide much needed support for the
37 CTO’s efforts to develop specialist markets and accommodation, partic-
38 ularly in rural areas.
39 More generally, the opportunity also exists for Cyprus to regain the
40 competitive advantage that it lost when it began to focus on quantitative
41 rather than qualitative tourism during the 1980s. The country retains its
42 reputation for friendliness and quality service and this can be augmented
43 by improvements in the quality of the Cypriot tourism product as a whole.
1114 SpeciŽcally:
 82 Sha rpl ey
111 l the local taxes paid by hotels should be channelled into infrastructural
2 improvements in resort areas in order to upgrade the overall appear-
3 ance and supply of facilities and amenities;
4 l planned improvements to the highway between Larnaca and Agia
5 Napa/Protaras should become a priority to improve communications
6 with the rest of the island and to facilitate access to the main cultural
7 sites in the Troodos mountains and to the west;
8 l major heritage sites require improved interpretation and visitor facili-
9 ties. Sites, such as the Tombs of the Kings in Paphos, remain poorly
10 interpreted.
11
Finally, there is no doubt that opportunities exist to develop niche markets.
12
For example, although conferences still account for just 2 per cent of total
13
arrivals the island is ideally placed as a conference venue for Europe and
14
the Middle East. However, the main conference centre and business hotels
15
are located in Nicosia with few, if any, on the coast, the one exception
16
being Le Meridien in Limassol which has recently upgraded its confer-
17
ence facilities. Therefore, investment incentives may be necessary to
18
encourage the development of this market. Similarly, special interest holi-
19
days, such as rural tourism, offer potential, but again substantial support
20
and investment is required.
21
Nevertheless, Cyprus remains and is likely to remain primarily a
22
summer-sun (package) destination, continuing to provide the foundation
23
of the Cypriot tourism industry. This characteristic of tourism on the
24
island has been exacerbated by previous policies that have discouraged
25
independent forms of tourism; indeed, many of the challenges described
26
in this paper have been allowed to emerge as a result of poor or inef-
27
fectual planning and management of the tourism sector. In particular, the
28
free rein given to the private sector, though giving rise to remarkable
29
short-term growth and prosperity, has placed the island in a vulnerable
30
situation. Thus, as is becoming more widely recognized in Cyprus, the
31
solution would appear to lie in greater control from central government,
32
with tourism development policies implemented by bodies with sufŽcient
33
authority to regulate and monitor development. Only then will the chal-
34
lenges currently faced by the Cypriot tourism industry be overcome.
35
36
37
Acknowledgement
38
39
The author gratefully acknowledges the comments and help of a number
40
of individuals in Cyprus, in particular Thomas Coursaris, Phedias Karis,
41
Phoebe Katsouris and John Wood.
42
43
1144
 Pl ac e: Tour i sm in Cy pr us 83
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17
18
19 Biographical note
20
21 Richard Sharpley is Reader in Travel and Tourism at the University of
22 Northumbria at Newcastle, UK. He has written a number of books and
23 articles, primarily in the context of rural tourism, the sociology of tourism
24 and, more recently, tourism and development issues. In particular, his
25 research has focused upon the role of tourism in island development.
26 (University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Newcastle Business School,
27 Longhirst Campus, Longhirst Hall, Morpeth, Northumberland NE61 3LL,
28 UK; e-mail: richard.sharpley@unn.ac.uk)
29
30
31 Résumé: Tourisme en Chypre: les challenges et les opportunités
32
33 Les î̂ les ont toujours été des destinations touristiques en vogue, leurs charactéris-
tiques physiques et climatiques combinées avec des éléments moins tangibles
34 ‘insularité’ pour créer un attrait spécial pour les touristes. Par suite, plusieurs
35 î̂les ont choisi le tourisme comme un moyen de développement socio-économique,
36 et le tourisme souvent devenant le secteur dominant l’économie. Néanmoins,
37 cette dépendance du tourisme a prouvé d’être problématique pour plusieurs
38 destinations insulaires, fréquement reètant le modèle de développement
centre–périphérie. Comme cet article le démontre Chypre n’est pas une exception.
39 Depuis les années 1960 et malgré les désarrois politiques internes, l’î̂ le est devenue
40 une destination Méditerranéenne d’été. Cependant le tourisme a fourni la fonda-
41 tion pour une croissance économique rapide et prospére, mais l’î̂ le est aussi devenue
42 plus dépendante sur le tourisme et sur d’important marchés et des tours opéra-
43 teurs peux nombreux. Malgré tout, comme l’essai le discute, de grandes
opportunités existent pour le développement du tourisme en Chypre dans l’avenir.
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 86 Sha rpl ey
111 En particulier, quoiqu’il y a un besoin pour une planiŽcation et un contrôle plus
2 efŽcace au niveau national, il est suggéré que, contrairement à la croyance popu-
laire (et l’actuelle politique du tourisme Chypriote), les efforts doivent être investis
3 non à la diversiŽcation mais à la consolidation et au renforcement de principaux
4 marchés existants.
5
6 Mots-clés: tourisme insulaire, dépandance, tourisme en chypre.
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