Are we unhappy or just boring?
E DII TO RII A L
It’s bad enough that Cyprus is struggling to free itself from the shackles of trailing in the World Economic Forum ‘Doing Business Report’, another survey finds Cypriots permanently unhappy and in a worse state of mind than other traditionally boring countries.
The UN’s latest 2018 World Happiness report showed that Cyprus has only improved by four places in the annual rankings, rising from 65 last year to 61 in this year’s report. By comparison, the Danes, long considered the happiest people in the survey, have been pushed down three places, unseated by fellow Scandinavians Norwegians and Finns, followed by Iceland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.
The ranking, which has been topped by Nordic countries since its inception in 2012, is based on a number of parameters including life expectancy, welfare, social capital, corruption and trust in authority, in all of which Cyprus scores miserably.
The main focus of this year’s report was on migration within and between countries, which probably explains why Cypriots did not do as well. Apart from a general apathy to local and world events, the ostrich mentality on this island has tolerated issues such as corruption, which has become an art form in places like Greece, which ranked 79 this year.
On the other hand, if Cyprus ever aspires to become a ‘quality’ business and tourism destination, it should do something about changing attitudes and seeing the bigger picture. Globalisation is already here, yet some insist on maintaining a local approach to everything. No wonder Cyprus goods and service are not competitive.
The government should speed up efforts to introduce the junior ministries for tourism, as well as innovation and development, where happiness and feel-good factors play a pivotal role. However, as warned by this column in the past, transforming the Cyprus Tourism Organisation from a department to ministry should not come at a cost of embracing more civil servants and a go-slow mentality.
Ironically, it is the top countries in the annual Happiness index that are also frequent tourists to Cyprus, in addition to Germany (15), the UK (19) and Russia (58). So, one has to wonder, why the heck do these people come to our country for their holidays? This is not a million-dollar question, as the taxpayer has wasted millions over the years for studies and consultants to tell us what to do, while the reality stares us right in the face – be happy!