At 65.2 million euros, the proposed budget of the Cypriot Deputy Ministry of Tourism for 2024 surpasses previous years, accounting for initial budgets and excluding additional expenditures.
The Deputy Ministry was established in 2019 and its initial budget was €47.8 million, with additional expenditure of €4.3 million. In 2020, expenditure amounted to €52.8 million, with additional spending of €4.2 million. In 2021 (budget €47 million), additional expenditure was around €16 million. In 2022 (budget €53.5 million), additional spending was around €16.6 million, while in 2023 (budget €53.5 million), it was €38.79 million, including €16.4 million in promotion expenditure.
During the presentation of the 2024 budget to the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives, Deputy Minister of Tourism Kostas Koumis stated that 50% of the available appropriations are for actions to promote the destination and enrich the tourism product, such as information campaigns, participation in exhibitions, and grant projects. The remainder will be used to support sectors with fixed costs such as salaries, operating costs, and social benefits. He also mentioned that the ministry is currently re-evaluating promotional activities and actions aimed at enriching the tourism product.
Promotion expenditure absorbs 25.25% of the ministry’s budget, totaling €16.4 million. This includes cooperation projects with tour operators and airlines (€10 million), advertising campaigns in tourism markets (€5 million), promotion of specific forms of tourism (€500,000), organization of public relations events abroad (€500,000), production of material for digital promotion (€148,000), development and promotion of the “Authentic Routes” program (€100,000), and other actions (€172,000).
According to the deputy minister’s presentation, the total expenditure for promotional purposes amounts to €19.7 million, consistent with 2022 and 2023. For 2024, in addition to the expenditure for promotional purposes, an amount of €2.65 million relates to participation in exhibitions and other events, and €650,000 for hospitality.
Expenditure on grants amounts to €12.8 million, representing 19.63% of the budget. Of this amount, €11.241 million concerns projects to promote specific forms of tourism.
