The Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MECIT) is the central government body responsible for tourism at the highest level and its mission is the development of the Cyprus economy through continuous support of various sectors amongst which is the tourism sector. The mission is pursued through the formulation of the appropriate legal and administrative framework and the adoption of policies and targets which create the proper business environment for Cypriot Businesses in their effort to take advantage of the opportunities that arise in the market.

The Ministry of Tourism (NTA) is responsible for drafting strategies, policies and other measures at national level and drawing up proposals for legislation that regulates the tourism and hospitality industry, the tourism board’s role and activities and tourism tax issues. The Ministry is headed by the Minister and he has one Deputy Minister.

According to the Austrian Federal Constitution, the nine Länder (federal states) have the legislative and executive competencies for tourism affairs. Nevertheless, as tourism is a typical cross-cutting sector, both federal and European laws apply. In 2006, the Austrian Parliament established the Parliamentary Committee for Tourism. At the national level, tourism policy is the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy ('the ministry'). In 2010 the minister launched a tourism strategy with the objective of a close and strategic co-ordination in tourism issues.

Situation Analysis

Competitiveness: Europe primacy as a destination is not assured. Competitive pressure comes from other destinations, regulatory load, visa requirements and cost inflation. To maintain competiveness, industry and policy makers must work towards:

Tourism is highly complex, multi-sectoral industry where no single organisation provides or has control over the entire tourism product. Successful delivery of the wider tourism product is dependent on close working relationship, interdependencies and interactions with numer­ous other stakeholders, enabling the tourism organisation to provide a seamless experience for its customers.

Tourism destinations need public relations professionals that can manage media relationships, news coverage, crisis management, and more. As most leisure travel is consumer-driven, it is critical that your destination emerge as a top choice that comes to mind when consumers are making their travel decisions. Public relations activity is a powerful and cost effective way to promote a destination to targeted worldwide audiences. Editorial coverage generated by public relations activity is a valuable mechanism. It can position a destination as a desirable, not-to-be missed experience.

Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) or Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) are organizations that promotes a town, city, region, or country in order to increase the number of visitors. It promotes the development and marketing of a destination, focusing on convention sales, tourism marketing, and services. DMOs are the most important tourism marketing organizations in their respective tourist destinations, as they are directly responsible for the long term development and marketing the destination brand through travel and tourism "product awareness" to visitors.

Mission

ECTAA is the voice of European travel agents and tour operators. It aims to:

Definition

International arrivals by city includes visitors from abroad who arrive at the city as their first point of entry, and also includes those visitors to the city who arrived in the country via a different point of entry, but then go on to visit the city in question during their trip.