Russians rank second after Brits on Cyprus

Over the previous year, the structure of Cyprus's inbound tourist flow has undergone some transformation. The island's most vital market, the British one, has lost 6% (all in all, around 1 million people from the UK have visited Cyprus). As for the Russian flow, it has won the second place in the number of tourists, adding 42% to the 2011's figures and reaching 224 thousand.

Tour operators dealing with the destination rated the past season as quite decent, even though it failed to please everybody with considerable gain of sales volumes.

The marketing director of Solvex Travel Company Mrs. Natalia Rotmistrova reported fair sales with a 50% upturn compared to 2011. "We started the season with a great variety of offers. In the summer, we were traditionally using Aeroflot flights, and for the winter, we got two weekly services by Cyprus Airways", she told RATA-news. Our source claims that the mentioned upturn was only possible thanks to the new offers. Since the previous year, apart from its classic beach and sightseeing itineraries, the operator has been setting up wedding ceremonies on Cyprus; and for the next season it has prepared a product based on online booking of villas and apartments, which is in great demand as well. During the summertime, there was a slight oversupply with the air transportation, but at the end all the programs have been completed normally, Mrs. Rotmistrova concluded.

"Our local partners warned us about an expected growth on the British market that had gone down last summer. Cyprus has distinctly structured market, shared between tour operators; and it's just impossible to work on the island if you don't have guaranteed ground services", Natalia Rotmistrova assures, "and that's why we took our time and got ready for the new season with a decent offer".

The head of Cyprus department at ICS Travel Group Mr. Alexey Sokolov has, too, told us about the previous year's high performance: "We see a significant increase in sales; it went up 40-50% in Moscow and as much as 400% in Saint Petersburg. But to tell the truth, that was what we reckoned upon. This year, he says, the intended sales will be roughly twice as little. For two months already, an early-booking promotion has been on at ICS, the sales depth is very well; we even sell packages for August. "Our hotel base has been upgraded this year. We have been working on Cyprus for 20 years now and so far we manage to withstand the expansion of larger tour operators quite easily, but we can already see the problems of some of the newcomers, when they have to bank on unfamiliar accommodation facilities". Over the past years, apartment rental sector has grown significantly on Cyprus; the Russians, on the lines with the Brits, book them for 3-4 weeks.

The Van Bork Company reports a 10% increase in Cyprus sales. The director general Viktor Leontyev took note that his business is focused on high-end segment, which essentially doesn't get to grow fast. "And we don't interfere with mass operators' interests, as they offer cheaper package itineraries", deems Mr. Leontyev.

Elena Bondarenko, who is in charge of the destination at Vand International Tour noticed no growth with Cyprus. Furthermore, she is sure that the 2012's high index figure was caused just by aggressive pricing policy from operator Biblio Globus. "We are looking for other opportunities and new facilities to work with on the island. Most likely we won't only engage new hotels but will also use apartments or even private properties, particularly convenient for lengthy family vacations".

There is no massive hotel construction on Cyprus; the key count goes up pretty slowly; the existing hotels are just being renovated – as a result, the island lacks ground services. "We have some curious ideas how to attract customers, but I would rather not make it public so far. And what the demand for our new developments will be, we'll see in the next season", Mrs. Bondarenko summed up.