The Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative (CSTI) Annual General Meeting
The Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative (CSTI) held this year’s Annual General Meeting with the associated annual event, on Friday, 23rd of October 2015 at the Sotira Municipal Theatre with the inspiring title «Sustainable Tourism Building Bridges».
CSTI as a non-profit organization was established in 2006 and is affiliated to the Travel Foundation (TF), a charity in the UK. The organization’s aim is to develop sustainable tourism in Cyprus, which protects the environment, supports the local economy and promotes the local culture.
Moving ahead and considering the importance of tourism for the Cypriot Economy (as the recently published TIMM study) CSTI is promoting the idea of building the new Tourism Strategy around Sustainability Policies picking up on the results of the before mentioned study and bringing Cyprus Tourism in line with the targets of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the UN. Sustainable tourism is firmly positioned in there but it is also clear that successful implementation requires clear strategies, support at the highest political level, committed financing and investments in technology, infrastructure as well as human capacity.
This was also one of the key messages of the main speaker of the event, the Ambassador Mr. Andreas D. Mavroyiannis, Negotiator, presenting in an inspirational way how sustainable tourism can build bridges.
The event was addressed by representatives from the tourism industry including Mr. Costas Koumis, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cyprus Tourism Organisation, Mr. Panagiotis Neos Vice President of Tourism Commercial and Industrial Company Famagusta, TEBEA and Mrs. Salli Felton, Chief Executive of Travel Foundation UK.
Following the speeches Mr. Philippos Drousiotis, Chairman of the CSTI presented the work of CSTI and its future plans in incorporating sustainability in the tourism industry.
Like every year an adjoining Producers Fair with CSTI offered the guests the opportunity to view, try, taste and buy Cypriot products.
Finally like every year awards were given for outstanding sustainable efforts in the categories enterprises (LOUIS HOTELS PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED), small businesses (S J M LAZAROU) and community (ECOVILLAGE TRIS ELIES).
The event was coordinated by the journalist Mrs. Eleftheria Sofroniou.
A big thank you to all the members of CSTI for their support and valuable contribution through the years.
For more information about CSTI please call at 22 311623 or email info@csti-cyprus.org