Here is part of the announcement:
Ryanair Cuts All Rhodes & Kos Flights From October 2012 As Ministry Of Tourism Reneges On Promotion Agreement
Ryanair, the world’s favourite airline, today (17 May) confirmed
the early cancelation of 82 weekly flights to Rhodes and Kos, after
DETAP and the Mayor of Kos failed to honour an agreed joint marketing
campaign with Ryanair to promote Ryanair’s Rhodes and Kos routes this
summer.
Ryanair will now close 11 routes to Kos and 13 routes to Rhodes,
one month before the end of the summer season, resulting in the loss of
over 23,000 high spending tourists and over €18m in tourism revenues to
the local economy, after DETAP and the Mayor of Kos reneged on an
agreement with Ryanair to promote these flights internationally. This
promotion together with Ryanair’s low fares, would have guaranteed
passenger growth and high spending tourists.
An appalling state of affairs - a disaster for tourism in the Dodecanese.
ReplyDeleteRyanair and similar carriers give us the hope of overcoming the strangle-hold the tour operators and charter carriers have had in recent years by enabling us to [re] extend the season and provide competition - driving down air fares and driving up passenger numbers.
Greek politicians and so-called civil servants do not, respectively, represent the best interests of the people they are elected to represent nor serve the interests of the people who pay their wages through generating income and paying taxes. THINGS HAVE TO CHANGE.
The most ludicrous thing is that IF we could get the local tourist industry to co-operate a minuscule levy on each guest/week could easily generate more than enough to satisfy Ryanair's requirements, and leave enough to REALLY promote the area's tourism. Sadly the current mechanism, via taxes, means by the time money makes it's way "up" to Athens and then back down to the sharp end there have been too many fingers in the pie - leaving nothing for us to use to invest in our businesses and our futures.
Mark, we totally agree that there's problem with taxes leaving for Athens and that things have to change, but...
ReplyDelete... funding airlines to bring you customers during the summer season is not a long term solution. After a point, it will be cheaper to create our own airline than funding others. Maybe, though, some clusters could be created by companies that gain from Ryanair presence in order to fund them.