The revaluation of the tourism product of Cyprus, based on ecological integrity, social cohesion and economic development is a challenge, President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday.
In a speech read out by the Minister of Education and Culture, Costas Kadis, at the Annual General Meeting of the Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative (CSTI), President Anastasiades said that “especially in our country nowadays, tourism gains a different dynamic and becomes the counterweight to the unprecedented economic crisis. Given the fact that in 2013 revenues from tourism recorded an increase of 8% or 154.7 million euro, the importance of the revaluation of our tourism product, based on ecological integrity, social cohesion and economic development is a challenge for our country”.
It requires, the President said, synergy and collectiveness, not only by the interested parties, but by the civil society itself.
Anastasiades noted that sustainable tourism in Cyprus could take various different forms, transforming the tourist product, which until recently was based on the sun and the sea.
“The rich geomorphological and biological diversity, traditions, our morals and customs, our culture and long history, our highly educated workforce, are comparative advantages that we must take advantage of to make our place a major tourist destination” he noted.