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Paphos
Tourism
Traders
"Shooting
themselves
in the
foot"
by
Tony
Willmett
Many
Paphos
traders
in the
tourism
industry
- the
island’s
No 1
money
earner -
are
'shooting
themselves
in the
foot'
with
their
short-sighted
attitudes
to
customers,
according
to one
of the
town's
more
successful
entrepreneurs.
Fifty
five
year-old
George
Zenonos
- the
man
behind
the Funbus -
who's
spent
half his
life in
England
- should
know.
Many of
his
customers
return
again
and
again to
attend
his
unique
day out.
One
group
has
returned
eighteen
times,
he says.
'Too
many
business
people
in
Cyprus,
if one
of their
number
is
successful,
will try
to
destroy
his
success
instead
of
asking
why he
is
successful
and
learning
from it'
says Limassol-born
George.
He says
tourists
expect
good
value
for
money
and if
they
don't
get it,
they
will
tell
others
and it
spreads
like
wildfire.
'They
choose
to come
here,
don't
forget - and if
they
don’t
get the
best
service
and
enjoy
themselves
they
won't
come
back.
Commercial
jealousy
and
bureaucracy
It's not
often a
former
successful
UK
dress-maker
starts
up an
equally
successful
business
on the
buses in
Cyprus -
although
George
says the
road
ahead in
the
early
days was
littered
with the
stones
of
commercial
jealousy
and
bureaucracy.
George
was one
of five
children
who left
Cyprus
in 1961
to join
their
father
in
England
(George
was 8
years
old at
the
time).
At 16 he
started
working
in
London's
fiercely
competitive
clothing
trade,
working
in
dress-making
factories
and in
the
early
80's
started
his own
clothing
range
under
his Zed
UK
label.
It was
hard
round-the-clock
work,
dealing
with the
big
chains,
the
buyers
and his
suppliers.
'Even
back
then, it
taught
me that
the
customer
is
king - I
had to
get into
their
minds
and be
seen to
bother'
says the
man who
brought
fun into
getting
on a
bus.
'Travel
broadens
the mind
and
allows
us to
see the
world
through
a
different
perspective'
he says.
After he
came
home to
Cyprus
in 1990,
aged 38,
he
worked
with
Safari
tours,
driving
jeep-loads
of
tourists.
'After a
while I
noticed
the
people
on my
jeep
were
always
cheerful
and
happy
and it
seemed
to me
that
those on
the
other
jeeps
were
not. I
remember
at the
first
stop on
the trip
the
other
drivers
asked if
they
could
swap
their
miserable
passengers
for my
happy
ones!
I agreed
but by
the time
the trip
ended
all the
supposedly
miserable
gits
that I
took on
were as
happy as
hell,
singing
their
heads
off -
and my
bunch on
the
other
jeeps
were
feeling
a bit
down' he
recalls.
'It made
me
realize
it
wasn't
the
customers,
it was
the way
you
handled
them and
not
every
driver
had the
ability
to make
people
feel
good.
If
you're
on
holiday
and you
come to
a
strange
place
you need
someone
to show
you
around
and give
you a
good
time.
Everyone
whose
livelihood
depends
on
tourists
must put
themselves
in the
customers'
shoes.
I wished
the
drivers
had
realized
that if
they
gave
their
customers
lots of
fun and
laughs
they
would
have a
good
time,
feel it
was good
value
for
money -
and then
everyone
benefits!'
Funbus
fires
into
life
The
FunBus
was
started
by
George
in 1998
as an
alternative
to the
safari
tours to
offer
something
new to
the many
tourists
returning
to
Paphos
for
their
holidays.
The idea
was to
combine
the
traditional
Cyprus
Bedford
bus,
used to
transport
the
locals
from
their
village
to the
town,
with
something
that
would
appeal
to
everyone.
However,
George
says
that
when he
first
approached
the tour
companies
they
laughed
at him.
'No-one
seemed
to be
interested.
I felt
discouraged.'
So he
used his
imagination.
He went
down to
the
beach by
Alexander
the
Great
Hotel
and
invited
18
sunbathers
on
holiday
to come
on a
free
Funbus
trip as
Guinea
Pigs..
Via the
prehistoric
village
of Lemba
and its
art
school,
Agio
Neophytos
Monastery,
the
Baths of
Adonis,
Mavrolympos
Dam and
Sea
Caves,
they
ended up
on the
cliffs
at Agio
Georgios
by the
sea
where
everyone
was
given a
barbecue
lunch
and
drink -
all
which
was
wrapped
up in a
sing-a-long
accompanied
by
George
on his
guitar.
He says
it was
an
eye-opener.
The
Guinea
pigs had
the time
of their
lives -
he had a
winning
formula.
'Sometimes
we
business
people
get lost
in our
own
world -
and
don’t
listen
to
customers
-but the
way to
be
successful
is to
put
ourselves
in their
place.
It's
through
that
that we
succeed'.
A
spanner
in the
engine
He
recalls
that,
despite
his
success,
he was
still
'pestered'
by
officials
from the
Cyprus
Tourism
Organization,
who
several
times
stopped
his
vehicle-and
in front
of
passengers
-wanted
to know
why
there
wasn't a CTO
licensed
tour
guide on
board.
'I kept
explaining
to them
that
mine
wasn’t a
historical
or
archeological
tour -
it was a Funbus,
simply
taking
holidaymakers
out for
a good
time – a
concept
that was
alien to
them.'
The CTO
was
having
none of
it, says
George.
He was
taken to
court
for not
having a
guide
and
fined.
His
solicitor
advised
him not
to
contest
the
charge
because
if he
won
'every
Tom,
Dick and
Harry
would
want the
same
treatment'.
Yet
afterwards,
according
to
George,
the then
Paphos
CTO
manager
told him
he
should
have
been
'given a
medal'
for
showing
the way
forward.
He told
George
the CTO
could
not
excuse
one bus
operator
because
the tour
guide
system
would
then
fall
apart.
Apparently,
too many
people,
according
to the
manager,
were
jealous
that his
passengers
left the
bus
laughing,
having
clearly
enjoyed
themselves.
The CTO's
Senior
Assistant
Tourist
Officer
in
Paphos,Maria
Nicolaou,said
anyone
could
become a
licensed
tour
guide
for
archeological
and
historical
tours,
if they
passed
the
eight
month
course
and the
exam,
costing
CYP1,200.They
could be
of any
nationality
as long
as they
spoke
Greek
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