By Leo Leonidou, Cyprus Mail, July 28, 2006
AN INNOVATIVE website showing off what Cyprus has to offer to both tourists and locals has recently come online, creating a unique information portal.
The site, www.showme-cyprus.com, gives internet users the chance to see Cyprus landscapes, tourist attractions, property developments, property, hotels and all types of businesses including restaurants and bars, as they really are.
According to commercial director, Vasilis Papalexis, “the internet has changed from being text-based to image-based, as bandwidth and PC performance has increased rapidly.
Showmecyprus.com is an image-based directory that brings Cyprus together in an online one-stop-shop window. And the internet is the biggest shop window in the world, with one billion users worldwide.
Being image-based gives the advantage of having no language barriers; it is easy to understand and navigate and makes the website a fantastic tool for people wanting to discover our wonderful island.”
Uniquely, satellite and three dimensional aerial imagery is displayed to visitors, providing them with a view of the island and its ‘hotspots’, but with a spatial perspective, allowing people to see the reality of what’s on the ground.
People can zoom in close enough to see tourist attractions, hotels and property
developments. So close, in fact, that the colour of an individual’s hair can be seen.
“Somebody booking a hotel room doesn’t always get what they think they will, but with Showme, they will have a clear picture and better information than ever before,” said Papalexis.
“Take golf for example. Enthusiasts looking at Showme-cyprus.com can actually visit Cyprus’s golf courses, such as Aphrodite Hills and Secret Valley. They will get a detailed view of the course from the air, rather than just view the usual picture of a flag and a green.”
But it doesn’t stop there. Videos and photographs can also be viewed on the site and to help find locations, Showme have created their own street maps, which can be overlaid on the satellite images and printed out.
Coverage focuses on the tourist and property hotspots of Paphos, Coral Bay, Limassol, Pissouri, Ayia Napa and the Latsi/Polis areas, with many more areas including Nicosia to be added shortly. Demand by the business sector will ultimately dictate the extent of coverage.
Showme introduces new business to advertisers on what Papalexis calls, “three clicks and you’re in – with no commission or any other type of booking fee. “One click to get to Showme from search engines or our sister sites, another click to view a hotspot and the third to take people straight to the advertiser’s website or other contact details.
“Showme also allows visitors to get details sent directly from the site to their mobile phone – so they can take information with them when they travel to Cyprus.”
Papalexis, who was born in South Africa to Cypriot parents, explained that the site has been tested on all ages – from eight to 84-year-olds.
“All age groups managed to navigate the site with no prompting. It’s very easy to use. What’s important is not only to attract people to a website but getting them to remain on the site. The easy-to-use features and imagery dynamics makes Showme an informative and pleasurable experience and this is inspired from our initial findings that visitors are staying on the site for as long as 20 minutes – compared to the internet’s average of 30 seconds!”
When asked to explain the difference between Showme and Google Earth, on which Cyprus is also featured, the 49-year-old said: “With Showme, the visitor does not need to download any software making access instant. We also have hundreds of three dimensional aerial images, which is very important to give the best impression of the island’s tourist spots and advertisers’ developments, hotels and businesses.
“We have also focused on bringing business to Cyprus’s tourist areas rather than provide a general tool which would allow a visitor to easily leave the Republic and continue the search for property or a holiday in a different country.”
Showme uses licensed satellite images from the world’s leading American/EU satellite companies, so images can be kept more up-to-date and take into account factors such as economics and weather conditions. For aerial pictures, Showme has an exclusive agreement with one of the island’s top aerial photographers, Denny Rowland.
Showme provides a unique internet shop window for Cyprus. The Cypriot company behind it, WOW SHOWME LTD, is also authorised to resell worldwide satellite, radar and aerial images to businesses such as property developers, hotels and government departments. So it’s now possible for any organisation requiring satellite and aerial images for electronic or printed use to order and purchase these with expert local advice.
Plans for the future include expanding the concept to other countries on a franchise basis and the introduction of new technology such as satellite navigation for motorists on the island, which is natural progression of the work the company has done on creating its own detailed maps of the island.
When asked how much the project cost to set up, the commercial director said: “Lets put it this way; our investors, directors and employees have 200 years of combined experience of software development and the internet. Even so, Showme represents two years of solid development and you won’t get much change out of £1 million to get as far as we have today. Revenue is already being generated through businesses advertising on the site. We offer them a unique marketing tool to showcase their business or product in a way never seen before.”
In concluding, he said: “This is the first business of its kind in the world and it’s Cypriot born and bred. We have now set up a subsidiary with British staff to promote Showme on the ground in the UK to drive more visitors to Cyprus and business to Cypriot companies. With 2.5 million annual visitors to the island compared to Dubai’s five million or Venice’s 60 million, we are proud to be doing our bit to increase tourism whilst at the same time enabling local companies with a huge technological advantage.”
www.showme-cyprus.com