Luciano Sozzo: Cyprus is a hidden jewel with a superb potential to attract European and international travellers at large

Cyprus could really become the favourite European destination for winter sun, cultural travel, gastronomy experience, and many other market segments, says Luciano Sozzo, COO of Stademos Hotels, who adds in an interview with CBN that this will require easing up the connection process to compete with other similar destinations.

He believes there is a generalised lack of knowledge about the island’s beauty as a destination, but says this can easily be rectified if private sector initiatives are boosted with institutional support.

Mediterranean Beach Hotel

You are COO of Stademos Hotels which operates three of the island’s best-known hotels, the Mediterranean Beach Hotel in Limassol, the Elysium Hotel in Paphos, and AMARA Hotel in Limassol. Can you tell us more about the company’s overall philosophy but also how it maintains an individual identity for each of the three properties?

Stademos is able to deliver world class accommodation to the most sophisticated international travellers with unparalleled service standards and state-of-the-art hotels, like the AMARA, offering luxurious, lifestyle and personalised hospitality experiences, the Elysium with its grand, cultured and welcoming atmospheres and the Mediterranean, our upscale resort in Limassol, with a contemporary friendliness and a bright casual approach to hospitality. With such a portfolio Stademos Hotels wants to play a leading role in all international markets to offer the most discerning travellers the ultimate accommodation experience.

Elysium

You are also General Manager of AMARA. Can you tell us more about what you consider AMARA’s particular concept and what you consider to be its most special qualities?

AMARA is a flamboyant, hip and chic and dynamic hotel, naturally representing the place to be for the local community as well as for the most discerning luxury travellers. An impeccable and yet young, friendly, professional and discrete service is always ready to offer local expertise while fully respecting guests’ privacy. The hotel blurs the lines between indoor and outdoor experiences harmoniously blending local culture with today’s lifestyle, creating a friendly and never intimidating, blissful atmosphere, providing guests with a pleasurable break from the classical reminiscence of the territory while stimulating fantasy and interest on the concept solutions adopted.

AMARA

AMARA houses branches of international eateries-- Ristorante Locatelli, Matsuhisa Limassol and Beefbar—while also providing retail options featuring luxury clothing, accessory and jewellery brands. How important is it to offer products of this calibre to your guests? What value do you believe they add to the overall guest experience? Also, because of Cyprus’ relatively small size, is attracting ‘big names’ sometimes a challenge?

Superior gastronomy offering interpretations of local and international cuisine to today’s taste is essential to contribute to create a modern, leading edge luxury venue. The same vision is applied to the offering of the most sophisticated luxury goods brands. We believe in innovation without forgetting our past, offering new unique choices with a smile, helping customers to create seductive memories with a fresh, unexpected, new approach to hospitality, going beyond borders to facilitate a seamless experience. I have to admit that sometimes, attracting the world’s leading brands to come to Cyprus may require to go the extra mile, but this is just one of the challenges we proudly accept every day.

Matsuhisa Limassol

Ristorante Locatelli

Beefbar

Can you tell us more about AMARA’s newest eating option Nerea? Are there any plans you can reveal for other new offerings at the hotel?

Last June we organised a press trip with international media from Europe and the UK and I am proud to say that Nerea was one of the most appreciated restaurants by the journalists. The food concept there is based on the Mediterranean flavours, beautifully complementing the choice of international leading cuisine offered to the AMARA’s guests. One thing is for sure: we will continue to grow the offer to our customers, in full alignment with the hotel brand values and vision, even if it is too premature to make any announcement at this stage.

Nerea

How have geopolitical developments impacted AMARA’s clientele? For example, have the sanctions against Russia made an impact? And now, with the more recent developments in the Middle East, has your typical clientele changed in terms of country of origin, reason and duration of visit?

The hotel’s occupancy has not really changed and we are proudly registering an 85% occupancy of our rooms, fully in line with the previous years. Obviously, we are monitoring very closely the recent dramatic developments in the Middle East and Ukraine, and adapting our security systems and measures to the situation to guarantee our guests’ safety, while we continue our activities to attract international travellers from Europe and internationally with our offers.

More broadly, what is your view of the hotel industry in Cyprus today? What do you consider to be some of the main challenges to the sector and how do you propose these can be solved?

In dealing with international media and travel operators, we have discovered a need to promote the destination much more in key feeder markets. There is a generalised lack of knowledge about such a beautiful destination, that could be easily solved with an increased institutional support to promotional initiatives the private sector is conducting. Let me give you an example: in November we will bring over 20 journalists from top consumer and lifestyle media from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Poland to experience our hospitality and the beauty of the destination. Every one of the participants is asking to receive more information about Cyprus as they are very interested but have not been involved in similar initiatives in the past.

Further to the above, how does Cyprus compare to other similar holiday destinations?

I believe Cyprus is a hidden jewel with a superb potential to attract European and international travellers at large. We will need to review the airline connection to the island in order to facilitate the travel experience and offer direct connections from the major hubs. Cyprus could really become the favourite European destination for winter sun, cultural travel, gastronomy experience, and many other market segments, but we will certainly need to ease up the connection process to compete with other similar destinations.