View Original Topic: Cyprus Tourism: Einstein Was Wrong!

Posted By: DAC

Anyone with even the slightest interest in “”the other”” Cyprus Problem might find this article quite interesting.... Cyprus Tourism: Einstein Was Wrong! “Our thinking does not need to change, the world does!” Albert Einstein cautioned us that “we can’t solve our problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”. Time after time, he was proven right. In Cyprus however, whether the issue is the Cyprus problem, the economy, the environment, or tourism we are confident that we can prove him wrong. We stubbornly insist to keep using the same kind of thinking to solve problems we created them in the first place. Our approach to reviving our tourism, our single largest economic sector, exemplifies this. A generation ago, Cyprus was an exotic, pastoral, hospitable and picturesque tourist destination with unique cultural experiences for the visitor. In our strife to maximise the number of visitors and our short-term profits we overbuilt, mostly haphazardly, and treated both the environment and tourists as inexhaustible resources to be exploited without mercy, with little concern for the sector’s future, or the country’s reputation as a unique tourist destination. In the process we lost our unique elements, the hospitality, the cultural context, the local colour, our authenticity, our uniqueness, our X-Factor, if you wish. Having little left that is unique in our “value proposition” to tourists, we began competing entirely on cost. But our costs kept rising along with our standard of living. You got the picture: disappearing uniqueness, loss of character, loss of identity and inexorably rising costs; you do not need an Einstein to tell you that you are in for trouble: selling what has become a very price-sensitive commodity (with many close substitutes) while prices keep rising leads mathematically to a loss of market share especially when new competitors emerge with more authentic products at a lower cost. Full Article here...

Posted By: Andrew Brooks

How very true but there's no telling them. At least the sunshine hasn't changed....................... yet. :lol:

Posted By: MCM Carrington

Spot on!