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8/9/2019 My Project of Final Year
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THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
INTERNET MARKETING
STRATEGIES USE BY
CYPRUS TOURISM
ORGANISATION
By
Eva M Padrn Jorge Reg. No 201005031
Marta Stachowska Reg. No 201008016
Md.Yeasin Reg. No 200603943
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTIONa. Research area
b. Research interest
c. Research questions
d. Research value
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
a. What is e-commerce?
b. Strengths of e-commerce marketing strategies
c. Weaknesses of e-commerce marketing strategies
d. Current situation of e-commerce marketing strategies in Cyprus
3. METHODOLOGY
a. Data collection
b. Data analysis
4. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
Question 1: what are the strengths of e-commerce strategies used by the CTO?
Question 2: what are the weaknesses of e-commerce strategies used by the
CTO?
Question 3: What can be done to improve Internet marketing strategies of CTO?
Question 4: Which ideas of Internet marketing strategies of other countries
(Spain and Poland) can the CTO use in the future?
5. CONCLUSIONS
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
First of all, we would like to thank Mr. Nicos Nicolaou for his great teaching skills the
subject Final Year Project.
We also have to mention his help in writing this assignment. Moreover, we personally
appreciate his kind consideration of giving some extra time.
Thanks are also owned to some students and hotelier for executive help regarding this
project.
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1. INTRODUCTION
a. Research area
Nowadays the Internet is the most common medium of communication all over
the world. It has also become one of the most significant tools of marketing used
by companies. For this reason it plays a key role in marketing strategies used by
Tourism Organizations, including the CTO.
What is more, the tourism industry has specific features that explain its
importance for economic (regional) development and its inclination toward IT
systems and e-marketing technology. In addition, tourism greatly influences
regional development, social, economic and demographic environment and with
major changes taking place in international tourism, with tourist/customer
behavior changing continuously as the type and duration of holidaytaking
changes, competition is growing faster than the pool of tourists.
Today, tourism is the largest industry in the world, in particular, to small islands
or countries like Cyprus that sustain large percentages of their national economy
on this industry. Table 1 shows tourism industry sector contributes almost the
half of the total economy in Cyprus.
Source: CTO
b. Research interest
We have chosen the topic of Internet marketing strategies used by the CTO,
since we believe that Cyprus has an enormous touristic potential. This potential,
6%
24%
24%
46%
Distribution of income
Agriculture
Financial
Construction
Tourism
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to our minds, should be more exposed in the website of CTO and more effort
should be put in promoting it in order to attract more visitors, not only from
Europe, but form the whole world.
The tourism domain is an excellent example of the trend towards personalized
services and a complex marketing mechanism and it reflects customers
becoming a part of product creation. It should also be noted that, a number of
non-IT/technology related issues with regards to the tourism market and its
customers, such as:
Dynamic market and network structures,
Pricing and market design,
Designing and experimenting business models,
User decision modelling and usage analysis
Should be taken into consideration in order to meet the challenges and explore
the opportunities as well as to improve e-arketability and capture the clear
benefits of e-arketing, such as, overall customer-lifetime value orientation,
customer dictates, selling process customization, interactive/information-
enriched solutions, continuous customer interaction and customer expectations
set by customers experience across the market.
The primary tool of growth and profitability for the tourism industry in Cyprus
will be the effectiveness of the marketing system CTO puts into place to support
e-arketing and existing channels.
c. Research questions
Question 1: what are the strengths of e-commerce strategies used by the CTO?
Question 2: what are the weaknesses of e-commerce strategies used by the
CTO?
Question 3: What can be done to improve Internet marketing strategies of CTO?
Question 4: Which ideas of Internet marketing strategies of other countries
(Spain and Poland) can the CTO use in the future?
d. Research value
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Our study will not only help other researchers expand their knowledge on e-
commerce and the advantages and disadvantages of this marketing tool but it
will also bring a broad insight in marketing strategies used by the CTO to attract
visitors. It will include as well a genuine and relevant assessment of them and
what is more their effectiveness in promoting Cyprus Hospitality, their strengths
and weaknesses product will be discussed.
Our project may help hospitality industry and tourism in Cyprus in improving
Internet marketing strategies by giving new ideas and advice of e-marketing
strategies used by another country, very successful in that field of industry -
Spain. The analysis and comparison between Cyprus and Spain, which both are
Mediterranean holiday destination is, in our opinion, an opportunity to modify
approach of Cyprus regarding e-marketing strategies and change them for better.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
a) What is e-commerce?
Philip Kotler claims that electronic commerce ( e-commerce) is a general term
for purchasing, selling and exchanging of goods and services over computer
networks (such as the Internet) through which transactions or terms of sale are
performed electronically. He also states that electronic markets are market
spaces, rather than physical marketplaces, in which sellers offer their
products and services electronically, and buyers search for information, identify
what they want, and place orders using a credit card or other electronic payment.
A little different approach is presented by Anna S. Mattila, who defines
electronic commerce as a way of doing real-time business transactions via
telecommunications networks, when the customer and the merchant are in
different geographical places. She also indicates that e-commerce is a broad
concept that includes virtual browsing of goods on sale, selection of goods to
buy, and payment methods. Electronic commerce operates on a bona fide basis,
without prior arrangements between customers and merchants. E-commerce
operates via the Internet using all or any combination of technologies designed
to exchange data (such as EDI or e-mail), to access data (such as shared
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databases or electronic bulletin boards), and to capture data (through the use of
bar coding and magnetic or optical character readers).
Terminology used in E-Commerce
Buyers - these are people with money who want to purchase a good or
service.
Sellers - these are the people who offer goods and services to buyers. Sellers
are generally recognized in two different forms: retailers who sell directly to
consumers and wholesalers or distributors who sell to retailers and other
businesses.
Producers - these are the people who create the products and services that
sellers offer to buyers. A producer is always, by necessity, a seller as well.
The producer sells the products produced to wholesalers, retailers or directly
to the consumer.
Marketing Strategies of ecommerce:
Search Engine Placement
Viral Marketing
Search Engine Placement
Have a unique product
Offer good content and features
Get listed in regional and industry directories
Include address / phone #
Buy traffic
Top 3 Search Engine
Yahoo
MSN
How Search Engine finds any website
1. Search engine Spider or Crawler visits your site
2. Or you can register at search engines
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3. Your site information is added to the search engine index
4. Search engine software finds your site in their index
Other marketing strategies of e-Commerce
Linking business leads and customers to the company through its presence
on the internet:
- Website,
- Directories,
- Industry portals.
Advertising online:
- e-mail marketing,
- Newsletters,
- Online polls.
Gaining visibility.
Online Advertising
Offer based e-mails
Newsletters
Opinion Polls
Catalog requests
Dynamic, interactive and inexpensive!
Viral Marketing: Viral Marketing Communications provides professional
Internet marketing, web design and development, and search engine
optimization to clients ranging from small businesses to divisions of major
corporations.
b) Strengths of e-commerce marketing strategies
Ecommerce allows people to carry out businesses without the barriers of time or
distance. One can log on to the Internet at any point of time, be it day or night
and purchase or sell anything one desires at a single click of the mouse.
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The direct cost-of-sale for an order taken from a web site is lower than through
traditional means (retail, paper based), as there is no human interaction during
the on-line electronic purchase order process. Also, electronic selling virtually
eliminates processing errors, as well as being faster and more convenient for the
visitor.
Ecommerce is ideal for niche products. Customers for such products are usually
few.
But in the vast market place i.e. the Internet, even niche products could generate
viable volumes.
Another important benefit of Ecommerce is that it is the cheapest means of
doing business.
The day-to-day pressures of the marketplace have played their part in reducing
the opportunities for companies to invest in improving their competitive
position. A mature market, increased competitions have all reduced the amount
of money available to invest. If the selling price cannot be increased and the
manufactured cost cannot be decreased then the difference can be in the way the
business is carried out. Ecommerce has provided the solution by decimating the
costs, which are incurred.
From the buyers perspective also ecommerce offers a lot of tangible
advantages:
Reduction in buyers sorting out time.
Better buyer decisions
Less time is spent in resolving invoice and order discrepancies.
Increased opportunities for buying alternative products.
The strategic benefit of making a business ecommerce enabled, is that it helps
reduce the delivery time, labour cost and the cost incurred in the following
areas:
Document preparation
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Error detection and correction
Reconciliation
Mail preparation
Telephone calling
Data entry
Overtime
Supervision expenses
Operational benefits of e commerce include reducing both the time and
personnel required to complete business processes, and reducing strain on other
resources. Its because of all these advantages that one can harness the power of
ecommerce and convert a business to e-business by using powerful turnkey
ecommerce solutions made available by e-business solution providers.
c) Weaknesses of e-commerce marketing strategies
One important weakness of e-commerce is that the Internet has still not touched
the lives of a great number of people, either due to the lack of knowledge or
trust. A large number of people do not use the Internet for any kind of financialtransaction. Some people simply refuse to trust the authenticity of completely
impersonal business transactions, as in the case of e-commerce. Many people
have reservations regarding the requirement to disclose personal and private
information for security concerns. Many times, the legitimacy and authenticity
of different e-commerce sites have also been questioned.
Another limitation of e-commerce is that it is not suitable for perishable
commodities like food items. People prefer to shop in the conventional way than
to use e-commerce for purchasing food products. So e-commerce is not suitable
for such business sectors. The time period required for delivering physical
products can also be quite significant in case of e-commerce. A lot of phone
calls and e-mails may be required till you get your desired products. However,
returning the product and getting a refund can be even more troublesome and
time consuming than purchasing, in case if you are not satisfied with a particular
product.
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Thus, on evaluating the various pros and cons of electronic commerce, we can
say that the advantages of e-commerce have the potential to outweigh the
disadvantages. A proper strategy to address the technical issues and to build up
customers trust in the system, can change the present scenario and help e-
commerce adapt to the changing needs of the world.
Despite these challenges, companies large and small are quickly integrating
online marketing into their marketing mixes. As is continues to grow, online
marketing is a powerful tool for building customer relationship, improving sales,
communicating company and product information, and delivering products and
services more efficiently and effectively.
d) Current situation of e-commerce marketing strategies in Cyprus
To give broader insight in usage of Internet and e-commerce in Cyprus, below
statistics are presented. In May, 2005 - Internet usage by Cypriots is below the
European Union average, and businesses on the island are also lagging behind,
according to figures released by Eurostats. Based on figures for the first quarter
of 2004, Eurostat says 32 percent of Cypriots between 16 and 74 years use the
Internet while the EU average is at 47 per cent. Eighty-two percent of Cypriot
businesses use the Internet, among the lowest EU level, which is on average 89
percent.
In Cyprus the internet is used more by men, with 36 per cent, as opposed to 28
per cent among women, a trend that exists throughout the EU member states
with the exception of Finland and Estonia. It comes as no surprise that it is more
popular among youngsters. An average of 75 per cent or two thirds of people
aged 16 to 24 used the internet.
November 15, 2006 - Internet e-commerce is still small in Cyprus. Only 7% of
Cypriot enterprises that use the internet actually accepted orders via the internet
in 2006, although this was higher than the 5.1% reported in 2005 according to
the annual Information and Communication Technologies Usage and E-
Commerce in Enterprises survey.
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At the same time, a parallel household survey found that only 6.7% of
individuals ordered products over the internet, although this was higher than the
5.1% recorded in 2005. These individuals ordered mainly books, magazines,
newspapers and e-Learning material.
Regarding e-Government, businesses are interacting more with the government
online. Business using the Internet for interaction with public authorities (mainly
obtaining information) increased from 39.5% in 2005 to 44.3% in 2006.
In general, computer and internet usage in business is widespread: 94.5% of
enterprises used a computer in January 2006. Among small enterprises of 10-49
employees (which is around 95% of all enterprises in Cyprus) there was an
increase in computer usage from 92.8% in 2005 to 93.6% in 2006, as well as in
internet usage, from 82.1% in 2005 to 83.7% in 2006.
The survey on households found a significant increase (from a very low base) in
Internet broadband connections, from 4.5% in 2005 to 12.1% in 2006, while the
proportion with any kind of internet access from home rose from 31.7% to
36.7%.
The total percentage of households with a computer was 51.9% in 2006, while
40.9% of individuals aged 16-74 used a computer and 33.8% used the Internet
during the first quarter of 2006.
3. METHODOLOGY
Research is ongoing process, which is continues and changing. The purpose of
this study is to identify how effectiveness of internet marketing strategies uses
by Cyprus Tourism Organization.
The objective of research area:
Current Web Marketing System of Cyprus.
CTOs E-Marketing Overviews.
To identify whether Cyprus has the potential and necessary
characteristics to attract the internet marketing.
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This chapter begins with an analysis of the importance of secondary and primary
data then explains why both of them were used and in which way. Finally, some
limitations that the researchers faced were discussed.
Secondary Data Collection:
As Churchill (1991) mentioned, first attempts at data collection should logically
focus on secondary data. Secondary data are statistics/information not gathered
for the immediate study at hand but for other purposes (Churchill, 1991;
Malhorta, 1993). Secondary data are easily accessible, relatively inexpensive,
and quickly obtained (Clark ET. Al. 1998; Veal, 1991). On the other hand,
because secondary data have been collected for other than the study at hand,
their usefulness to the current situation may be limited in many important ways,
including relevancy and accuracy (Clark et. al. 1998; Malhotra, 1993; veal,
1991).
For this project secondary data is in the following
The annual reports of Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO).
Strategic plan for tourism by CTO
The Federal government
Material published by Ioannis Pantelidis (London Metropolitan
University) and Mariana Sigala, The presentation of E-tourism; the
Cyprus Tourism Organizations Action Plan by Phoebe Katsouris.
Books on E-commerce and Tourism
Websites of Spain and Poland to compare
State government
Statistic agencies
Trade association
General business publication
Magazine and newspaper
Annual report
Academic publications
Library sources
Computerized publication
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World wide website.
Primary Data Collection
Primary research involves the collection of original data using an accepted
research methodology. Primary data are data originated by the researcher for the
specific purpose of addressing the research problem (Malhotra, 1993). The
process of collecting primary data is individual tailored, the cost is high, and the
collecting time is long.
Since the project sought to explore the current situation in Cyprus in terms of
internet marketing strategy development, the primary information obtained was
quantitative. In the research, questionnaire survey was used, which involves the
gathering of information from individuals using a formally designed schedule of
questions called a questionnaire or interview schedule.
The questionnaire surveys were included is in the following:
Objective results
Complex information in easy understood form
Providing opportunity to study change over time, using
comparable methodology
Ensuring that a complete picture of a persons patterns of
participation is obtained
Analyzing data: The main secondary data were obtained mainly from CTO
(Cyprus Tourism Organization).
Internet marketing strategy of CTO is a crucial turning point of its development
as because of thus far Cyprus has discovered mass tourism destination around
the world with extreme and lovely atmosphere. The hospitality products and
services are similar standard with comparison other European country for
instance UK, Spain, Poland, Greece. Based on the results of the overall analysis
done and the supporting technology related projects, within the context of its
vision for e-Marketing CTO should be transformed into a knowledge
organization and a knowledge hub for the tourism industry as a whole, the
tourists and its employees and CTO should increase its internal as well as
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external communications and become more and more interactive through e-
channel optimization.
4. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
Question 1: What are the strengths of e-commerce strategies used by the
CTO?
Answer: Tourism greatly influences regional development, social, economic and
demographic environment and with major changes taking place in international
tourism. Competition is growing faster than the pool of tourists. Solid e-
commerce mechanism in tourism sectors only can provide competitive
advantages to a country. The Cyprus current CTO adopted e-commerce
provides the following advantage:
CTO e-commencer enables web product promotion through its portal.
Web customer communications becomes easier by the e-commerce than
before.
Online Web base booking (e-booking) that is provide directly through the
web portal of CTO make it more convenient for the tourist by its web portal
Internet sector has any significant degree of competition in Cyprus mean lots
of ISP exist in the market which is good sign for the e-commerce business of
CTO.
E-commerce enables tourist to get enormous banking facilities as such as
trnsfer monet between one accounts to another, credit card, visa card etc on
the basis of the e-commerce structure in Cyprus.
Question 2: What are the weaknesses of e-commerce strategies used by the
CTO?
Answer: In order to reduce the weakness of E-commerce the CTO has taken
some major steps to improve IT system and e-commerce technologies. Those
are the identification of some weakness of e-commerce of CTO in Cyprus is as
follows:
The primary tools to growth and make profitability in the tourism sector in
Cyprus needs a holistic approach in terms of exploration/exploitation of e-
Marketing opportunities. CTO currently dose not has any holistic approach to
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apply in terms of exploration/exploitation of e-Marketing opportunities. It means
that CTO should address not only strategic opportunities but process
opportunities to create a more effective, stable and sustainable business
infrastructure
To support the goal of e-Marketing strategy, creates market demands and
generates new business opportunities CTO needs to establishing new channels,
create new values, extending boundaries, establish CTO, as the Center of
excellence for guidance, market rules setting and information dissemination and
Provide the capability for individuals to plan and manage their own program but
also to e-mediaries to excel through the e-marketing support capabilities whichs
CTO dose not has yet.
CTO currently dose not have nay solid e-marketing frame work to communicate
the e-marketing related critical areas with a clear focus as such as website,
intranet, e-Branding, e-Trading and info kiosks. Thus CTO can not communicate
information regarding the critical areas to the international tourist.
CTO can not provide the minimum information to the tourist through the web
portal to facilitate the e-commerce business as such as road finder map, contact
info, weather report, company information and exchange etc.
Question 3: What can be done to improve Internet marketing strategies of
CTO?
Strategic action plan for the implementation of e-marketing in CTO:
Strategic action plan for the implementation of E-Marketing is shown by the
following diagram.
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E-Marketing Manager Responsible for developing and implementing broad range
activities in the e-Marketing function. Responsible for market research, competitive
analysis, acquisition opportunities, product development and business opportunities.
Liaises with CTOs Marketing Unit and other departments and managers when
appropriate.
IT Officer: Directs and controls the IT for the e-Marketing unit, including systems
development, operation and support of the infrastructure in support of e-Marketing
business objectives. Responsible for the data and system administration. Liaises with
users play a key role in setting IT strategy.
Tourist Officer (e-Marketing): Overall control of the e-marketing operations and
functions. Develops and improves the Organisations image in e- marketing sector.
Tourist Officer (Content): Develops and improves content for e-Marketing needs.
Oversees all aspects of web content with emphasis on customer (web users)
preferences.
Assistant Marketing Officer(s): The generic marketing assistant role supports one or
several of the more specific functions within the e-Marketing unit.
Others factor which need to be considered in order to be improved internet
marketing strategies of CTO.
E-Booking system:
E-Marketing Unit
Tourist Officer
(E-Marketing)IT-Officer
Tourist Officer
(Content)
Assistant
Marketing
Officer
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An e-Booking system is an online web-based booking service that is provided
directly through the Web. At the same time, it enables hotels and other tourism
service-providers to accept instant and real-time reservations. The system can be
designed in order to manage all type of bookings, whether made directly by
tourists or through travel agents, tour operators, hotels or other tourism service-
providers. Hence, CTO will be able to act as an intermediary between tourists,
who would like to make on-line travel reservations and any tourism service-
provider who would like to promote its services/products. In this framework,
CTOs e-Booking system can either be seamlessly integrated into the existing
CTOs website or will function as a separate but dynamically driven website
using an ASP model. Another option for CTO is to become an affiliate member
with existing online travel service-providers in Cyprus without having to
proceed with the implementation of a separate or integrated e-Booking system.
Marketing Management Information System (MMIS):
Marketing Management system will provide CTOs executives with an
overview of the marketing disciplines and a framework that will present
marketing as a value creation process. Participants will learn how to evaluate
marketplace potential and risk from the perspective of the organizations unique
ability to develop and deliver information and services of meaningful tourist
value. The system should explore the principal concepts and tools of
contemporary marketing management, from market segmentation and service
positioning to the design of distribution channels and communications strategy,
in order to maximize the value delivered to tourists. CTOs executive team will
be in a better position to:
Analyze and understand tourists needs and personal behavior
Understand marketing program development and implementation
Comprehend their roles in a fully integrated, strategic marketing plan
Perceive how CTO captures value through marketing initiatives
Geographical Information System:
The use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the Internet has
changed the way organizations use geographic information, the processes of
accessing, sharing disseminating and analyzing data. The proposed GIS should
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be a visual and analytical tool that will help CTO to understand, visualize and
export its geographic information in interactive web-based maps via the Portal,
information kiosks, mobile devices, etc. and enable tourists to manage this
information interactively and analytically in order to plan and undertake a trip or
to make a potential decision. Using the system, CTO will be also able to
integrate tourism information, visualize complex scenarios, present powerful
ideas and derive effective solutions which would otherwise be impossible to
achieve.
Question 4: Which ideas of Internet marketing strategies of other countries
(Spain) can the CTO use in the future?
In order to answer this question, it is a wise criteria comparing Cyprus with a
similar destination when it comes to marketing strategies used. With this goal,
we have chosen the Canary Islands, as far as we can find several similarities
between them:
First of all, we are talking about islands, which mean certain of problems
because influences in prices and transportation; also they have a similar weather,
although the Canary Islands, due to them particular position in the Atlantic
Ocean, have a similar weather during the whole year; both are in the European
Union; and finally, it is also important pointing out that people characters and
food are similar.
When it comes to analyze how the tourist products are planned in the Canary
Islands, we can appreciate, just by looking in the following link,
http://www.turismodecanarias.com/islas-canarias-espana/ that they use a global
image Canary Islands and that they offer basically 4 different products: water
sports experience, wellness delight, volcanic experience and family welcome.
Water sports experience is focused on tourist that come to the islands to
practicing aquatic sports such as windsurfing, surf, sailing, kitesurfing, diving
and deep-sea fishing.
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Wellness delight is designed for people who come to the islands to combine
relaxation, sport, health, good food and contact with the natural environment. So
the Canaries offer different fitness ideas, depending on the time of year in which
the tourists decide to visit the islands. For example, in summer clients can
choose between activities such as aqua-gym, Pilates and aerobics and in winter,
there is nordic / power walking or Tai Chi. Or for those looking for sports in
opened areas, the offering contains an enormous variety of activities such as
excursions, hiking and cycle routes to the most seductive destinations or hang
gliding.
Family welcome this option is for tourists who come to the archipelago looking
for a ample sun and beach offer combined with an endless list of activities
suitable for all ages and with a select range of accommodation equipped with
safe and modern infrastructures ideal for children.
Volcanic experience: finally here we find a list of activities that explode the
potential that the Canaries have when it comes to volcanic diversity; so mainly,
this product is related with the volcanic landscapes of the different islands; it
also combines the possibility of trying the local gastronomy, visiting cultivated
landscapes, vineyards, country paths mixed with accommodation in charming
establishments and the performance of extraordinary activities in the open air,
such as star gazing in the clear skies. It includes also sport activities like hiking,
paragliding, caving, climbing and ravines.
In this new page, the tourism ministry of the Canary Islands, being aware of the
importance that social networks and web sites as trip advisor or flicker have in
nowadays society (2.0.web in conclusion), has included in the page links where
people can see comments that other visitors have made about the destination or
the hotels attached with their personal pictures. Also the web page offers the
possibility of booking hotels through it.
Referring to promotion actions, the islands basically try to attract tourist from
the Nordic countries in winter, as far as the islands have a really kind winter ifwe compared it with the kind of weather that this target markets have to face
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when the winter arrives in their countries. This is one aspect that we can observe
in the last Promotion Campaign for the winter in the Canary Islands launched by
the Canary Tourism Ministry under the title Say No to WinterBlues (for
seeing the video, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zG-
NFN1uCQ)
Until now, the campaigns have worked, actually Canary Islands peak period is
the winter one (from October to April), and during the rest of the year, the
common thing is to treat with national tourists basically looking for a close
destination with good weather in summer.
When it comes to analyze Cyprus Tourism Organization web page, we can find
several similarities if we compare it with the one that the Canary Tourism
Ministry created for the archipelago. The page is divided into:
Conference and incentives: product offer mainly to associations and
corporations that can find in Cyprus the perfect place for performing a meeting.
Sport and Leisure: form by an ample offer of water sports and mountain
activities.
Health and wellbeing: an offer focus on the variety of spa establishments
that we can find around the island together with the offer of healthy sports like
Pilates, fitness
Weddings and Honeymoons: a product designed for this specific target
market which usually looks for high quality of services and the most exclusive
hotels.
Rural and Nature: a product for nature, photography or painting lovers
performing activities in opened spaces.
Golf: product for golfers it includes visits to clubhouses for practicing
facilities and carry out individual lessons. Product that wants to attract as well
the spouses and family of the players.
Cruises and Learning: a product for people who visit the island by cruise
ships and that are interested in sightseeing activities which will allow them to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zG-NFN1uCQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zG-NFN1uCQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zG-NFN1uCQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zG-NFN1uCQ8/9/2019 My Project of Final Year
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know more about the beauties of Cyprus during the short period of time that
they usually spend in the island.
Each of these options offer the possibility of booking those services attending to
visitors needs and also it contents an e-brochure with information referring to
each of the products that we pointed out above. Also it offers the possibility of
using 2.0 web tools such as twitter, Facebook, or sharing videos with other users.
Also, as the Canary Islands, they have created a profile on Facebook where
people can join and be informed about important events that will have place in
the island.
As we can see, the page has a good structure and all the offers are related with
the kind of tourists that they want to attract; however, Cyprus is facing a
decrease in the number of visitors year by year, which means that although they
have the necessary resources to become a popular destination, public
organizations are not able to understand the real needs of consumers and satisfy
them properly. From our point of view, it seems that promotion actions are not
causing effect on the target markets. This is the last video that under the slogan
I love Cyprus tries to attract visitors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=WQBonGR8Was.
Here we can see that the video precisely tries to show the others possibilities
that the island offers to the visitants like cycling, promenades, sightseeing and of
course, the sun and beach offer. But people are still coming to Cyprus to enjoy
the typical sun and beach.
In the following video which was recorded at the end of the year 2007,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOHBSxNJvXU, a representative of the CTO is
talking about why Cyprus is an attractive destination for tourists, especially for
British ones, (the strengths of Cyprus as a destination); future plans that were
going to be performed to improve the destinations facilities in the following 2
and 3 years and what objectives that they would like to reach with the following
promotion campaigns. Now we will break down those aspects:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQBonGR8Washttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQBonGR8Washttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQBonGR8Washttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOHBSxNJvXUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQBonGR8Washttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQBonGR8Washttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOHBSxNJvXU8/9/2019 My Project of Final Year
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Strengths of Cyprus as a destination mentioned in the video (especially
attractive for British segment)
- Good weather during the whole year
- Language facilities: people speak English and all signs and indicators are
in this language
- Driving on the left side of the road
- People have a friendly character
- The island has the most clean bathing waters of Europe
- Good infrastructure: resorts and beaches with a good level of comfort,
cycling roads and coastal promenades
Objectives mentioned in the video that the new campaigns will try to reach
in the next years.
In this video the representative from the CTO also was high lighting some of the
objectives that they are trying to reach through new marketing actions:
First of all the CTO is trying to attract tourist during the whole year, not only in
summer (June, July and August), pointing out that Cyprus is a crowded
destination during this months and that it has more to offer that just sun and
beach, for example, she mentioned that the island can offer a big variety of
experiences like spa offers, trips in the forests, sightseeing in the cities in order
to promote cultural value or cycling.
In the video, the interviewer asked about the number of visitors expected for
2010 and his concerned about the environmental impacts that this number of
visitors can cause in the island; for facing this question she mentioned that the
Cypriot government is trying to invest in green products and that establishments
are applying for green certifications
But in this video, specifically in the last part, we can realize that most of the
objectives that the CTO planned to develop for the followings years have not
been carried out even now that we are in 2010; for example, she talked about
building a terminal in Paphos that should be finished in summer of 2008 which
is not even ready to be finished 3 years after; and also she was talking about
building more golf courses after talking about the environmental impacts that
8/9/2019 My Project of Final Year
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tourism cause in the island and the government policies to minimized those
aspects.
From the video we can see that from the CTOs side, an effort is being made to
transform the current image of the island into a new one that tries to emphasize
the other elements from the islands apart from what sun and beach have meant
during all these previous years. But for changing the situation, important actions
should be perform, promotion actions cant communicate a fake image of the
destination or tourist will be disappointed after their visit and they will never
come back again. If we are selling through promotion actions almost the
paradise, tourists will expect to find it; and problems with transportation (lack of
regular schedules for buses, bad conditions of roads and public transport
equipments, absence of adequate pedestrian roads) or problems with
infrastructures (accommodation establishments that dont reach the basic
standards of quality, public equipment such as bathrooms, change rooms or
showers in bad conditions, lack of adequate equipment for handicap people in
public spaces and also in private properties) are serious inconveniences that
can cause the lost of our clients.
So clearly there is a lack of communication between what the CTO pretends to
perform to reach the objectives and what the Government is ready to perform to
reach them. Cooperation between these organisms is the key for reaching the
proposed goals.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions represent the researchers own beliefs. They
represent theoretical solution in the sense that they have not been tested in
practice, which means that it is not possible to determine whether they could be
successful or not. However, researchers believe that it is worth considering these
conclusions.
In our assignment, as states its topic, we tried to assess and judge the
effectiveness of internet marketing strategies used by Cyprus TourismOrganization. First of all, after giving a brief introduction regarding our
8/9/2019 My Project of Final Year
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research, readers were made familiar with basic information about the nature of
e-commerce, its pros and cons and also its current situation in Cyprus.
Methodology of our project is included to give an insight into sources we used
to create it. The most important part, which is a base for the conclusion of the
research, represents chapter 4 in which advantages and disadvantaged of e-
commerce strategies used by CTO are included, as well as, implementation plan
of improvements which could implemented and suggestions and new ideas taken
from e-commerce marketing strategies of Canary Islands. What our research
proves is that CTO developed so far a really good Web site, promoting the
island as an ideal holiday destination and the booking base is a great
convenience for tourists. It is also worth to mention that via the Web page CTO
may receive immediate feedback from potential visitors. On the other hand there
still exist fields, which CTO should take into consideration. The most important
is to implement a solid marketing campaign which highlights and gives more
attention to historical heritage of Cyprus. This would probably enable Cyprus to
be attractive not only for typical holiday makers, but also for more sophisticated
tastes. What we strongly recommend to CTO, is considering e-commerce
strategies used by Canary Islands. The biggest improvement can be made in
terms of diversify the offer; as a touristic destination, its necessary guarantee a
regular level of tourist during the whole year; for this, other kind of activities
can be offer in the island, it is not a good practice concentrate the offer only in
summer. Diversification is the key to face the lack of business during that period
of time when weather conditions do not allow tourists to enjoy the typical sun
and beach holidays.
8/9/2019 My Project of Final Year
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6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.thesportjournal.org/article/sports-tourism-cyprus-study-international-
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