The survey took into consideration the total cost for a cup of coffee, Coca-cola, bottle of Heineken, bottle of drinking water, Nivea sunscreen, postcard & stamp, insect repellent, Marlboro light cigarettes, English newspaper and a three course meal for two in a local taverna/restaurant.

Well what sort of survey is that????

Cup of Coffee fair enough as long as the country drinks coffee and isn't more inclined to drink tea (or expensive frothy coffee's etc)

Coca-Cola - not my drink of choice but surely you would get a locally produced cola much much cheaper

Bottle of Heineken - again when in Rome etc drink the local beer so this is another daft way to compare drinks prices - Some countries might (like Cyprus has Carlsberg) have Heineken to hand and so its cheaper, but (again like Cyprus) you can get 2 or 3 good beers that are local for a good reasonable price (even better if you live there)

Bottle of water - pretty much universal unless they are going for a certain brand

Nivea sunscreen - same as before, you can probably get 20 brands so why go for one make that may be harder to source (and therefore more expensive) in some countries.

postcard & stamp fair enough with them (if your rellies don't have email)

insect repellent you would think this would be ok but did they take into consideration how much (if at all) you would need? I mean we've been to Cyprus 3 times and not bought any, but in other countries we've gone through bottles of it.

Marlboro light cigarettes I know people do smoke but its not something that I'm worried about... and is the Marlboro light the universally available brand?

English newspaper - papers?... post cards and stamp... have they not heard of the internet ??? Its often free access in the hotel and you can get upto date news as it happens...

and a three course meal for two in a local taverna/restaurant - On average something that is probably a fair comparison

Steve not sure how one would set up a survey quite like this, it has to be something all countries sell, so it has to be this way, it is only meant as a guide to cost in any country, as a resident some of those items I seldom if ever buy, but for sure I eat out a lot here and having some local knowledge makes it more than reasonable here, (as you know) of course like any country in the EU zone you could get overcharged, Cyprus is no different and it sad for tourist who do get this treatment and I would never blame them for not returning, but as you know Steve most do, and I think that ''UK Post Office survey'' was about right and as fair as you could make it, if you ate out in central London and put that cost's on there survey it would look decidedly different, so even if you may think that it is not an accurate survey (I do) then at least it gives some an idea of general cost's on Cy compared to other destinations in the EU zone..

By the way it has just rained, lovely!!! sun out again now though..

maybe they should have given a score on local beer, average local dish, normal local gifts etc... and also given a guide to how good these products were compared to a standard?

You know local beer is £2.20 a pint and is a reasonable beer similar to Carlsberg, or local beer is 30p a pint but tastes like the bottom of a fishermans welly....
Imported beers that are available are leon, keo and average at... etc (as keo in UK which could be an EU holiday spot is pretty expensive as it has to be imported so would score badly if Keo was the beer of the survey etc)

One man's fisherman's welly is another man's nectar.

To do a sensible survey - as opposed to one resembling War And Peace - items need to be common to each area.
Generic drinks could, as you stated, be purchased cheaper, but bear in mind that Coca-Cola is not just prduced in the U.S. of A. The can purchased may well have been purchased in the country it was bought in.

Mark

I follow what you are saying but they picked heiniken which isn't and never has been my weapon of choice. Its not on draught in the pubs in the uk where I drink (mainly Carlsberg, Carling) but it is in most shops and I can't remember seeing it on draught in Cyprus (well not unless it was in one of those we stock 20 different beers on tap type places), it wasn't about in the Algarve, didn't see it in Menorca etc etc.. So it doesn't work well as a comparison to say holidays in Germany or the UK and any other places its prices are lower due to demand and locality.

My pet hate are statistics as they mean nothing and can be used to show anything.
An Example of this would be to compare prices between countries and pick lets say "ouzo" as a product. Well in Cyprus its going to be around 7 Cy£ for a litre bottle where my local shop in the UK sometimes (and thats few and far between) gets a cheap brand 75cl bottle and sells it for £16 English. Instantly you have created a stat that makes Cyprus look cheaper than the UK for drinks. However if you pick say Magners cider we paid (and get this !) Cy£6 for a litre bottle in Cyprus where its about £2.50 in our same local shop, so this time UK would look cheaper on the stats.
Likewise you can say mosquito replant is £20 a bottle in the UK and only £5 in Cyprus, but in Cyprus you might need a bottle or two in a year costing you £10 but in the UK you won't need any which costs £0. The stat however would still appear to make Cyprus look cheaper again.
Last point is the local food thing doesn't take quality into account. I mean if all that was available locally was fatty beefburgers on a week old bun for £1.50 it would appear to be cheaper to eat in that place over a well cooked decent and tasty Kleftico costing Cy£5-7.

Horses for courses and all that, but these surveys don't really tell us anything. If you've got £100 to last you 2 weeks you will buy cheap food, cheap beer etc. If you have £1000 you will be booking trips, buying bottles of wine etc etc no matter where you go...

**puts soap box away**