Cyprus Travel Organization Welcomes Conferences

The Cyprus Tourism Organisation launched their so called Ambassadors in Tourism Program back in October. The tourism initiative targets convention tourism as its goal, another segment in Cyprus’ already growing travel industry. With the backing of the Ministry of Commerce, the Cyprus Incentives and Meetings Associates, International Congress and Convention Association, the Cyprus hopes to grow the “event based” area of their tourism economy.

This program, initiated at the Hilton Cyprus in Nicosia, basically sets in motion an organization of International “ambassadors” selling the concept of taking advantage of the country’s fantastic cultural, historical, and economic advantages. Driving business and other conference based travel to Cyprus, the CTO offers networking incentives and perks for their voluntary membership. CTO CEO A. Orountiotis, in his opening remarks, also made mention of the possibility for the creation of an official Convention Bureau of Cyprus.

The Minister of Commerce, Antonis Paschalides, kicked off the new initiative announcing his agency’s and the government’s support for the new initiative. CTO chairman Orountiotis also added:

“We are forming a complete action plan so as to organise and further develop conference tourism and create a targeted promotion for its success. Comparatively, we have a lot of advantages as a conference destination and we will develop them further, increasing our tourism inflow, especially during the low season months.”

Cyprus tourism this year has been a boom compared to some other regional country’s decline during this economic crisis. Even early in 2010 Cyprus saw a 15 percent increase in foreign visitors, and August – September were good months as well. With new incentives like those CTO is promoting, Cyprus may well become the new jewel of the Mediterranean. Currently, tourism only accounts for about 11 percent of the country’s economy – obviously given Cyprus’ environment and cultural value, a far under valued segment.

Events like the , combined with this fabulous Island’s other appealing tourism gifts, make Cyprus a prime candidate for exponential growth once the economic crisis lifts fully. With the added infrastructure the CTO’s “Ambassador” initiative suggests, a growing conference segment will only solidify the suggested growth for Cyprus tourism during 2011 and 2012. The CTO actually maintains one of the nicest tourism sites we have seen in some time. Their offerings there, as illustrated by the weather tool in the screen above, offers visitors a clear view of what Cyprus has to offer.