The omens from the Scandinavian countries and Switzerland are good, Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios told CNA, noting that these countries are among the markets expected to significantly boost the Cypriot tourism industry this year, offsetting some of the losses from Russia and Ukraine.
Mr. Perdios travelled to Sweden on an unscheduled basis, followed by a scheduled trip to Switzerland for meetings and contacts with tourism operators.
In statements to CNA from Switzerland, Mr. Perdios said that the five markets, namely Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland and Switzerland were anyway within the objectives of the national tourism strategy, but also qualified as a compensation for some of the lost ground due to the loss of the Russian and Ukrainian markets.
"It seems that from the Scandinavian countries and Switzerland the omens are very good for this year.
"It seems that from the Scandinavian countries and Switzerland the omens are very good for this year. They are among the markets that will boost us significantly compared to last year," he said.
This means, he added, "that both the demand and the program of tour operators is much higher than last year, at levels approaching 2019 levels and under some conditions probably exceeding 2019."
According to Perdio, the conditions are linked to the discussions the Ministry of State is holding with tour operators to implement extraordinary co-advertising, as well as the fact that some other destinations such as Croatia and Bulgaria seem to have a significant drop in demand due to their proximity to the war zone.
"They have opened some loopholes to us through tour operators who are looking at some readjustment of their programmes with these countries and Cyprus stands out as one of the destinations that might be able to attract additional tourist traffic," he said.
Saying that in Sweden last week Cyprus was No 1 in bookings of all destinations, Mr. Perdios added that "this is supported by some of our own measurements which say that compared to the first 2 weeks of the war when internet searches were slightly down this has now been reversed and from all our markets, except Russia and Ukraine, there is again an increase in searches for Cyprus."
"This is very important because the escalation in Ukraine and the increase in prices on goods and fares seems not to be the primary factor in whether someone goes on holiday. The primary factor for travelling is that people have been stuck at home for the last 2 years because of the pandemic," he noted.
Asked about this, the Deputy Minister of Tourism said that the number of flights from these countries exceeds the number of flights in 2019.
He said, for example, Finnair has added flights from Helsinki, while the last time this airline had flights with Cyprus was 5 years ago.
He said, for example, Finnair has added flights from Helsinki, while the last time this airline had flights with Cyprus was 5 years ago.
He said, for example, Finnair has added flights from Helsinki, while the last time this airline had flights with Cyprus was 5 years ago. He added that Norwegian has direct flights from all the capitals of the Nordic countries to Cyprus.
At the same time, he said, Eurowings has direct flights from Stockholm to Cyprus for the first time, while for the first time, we also have chartered flights from Bern, Switzerland. According to Perdios, these flights will be operated between two and three times a week, depending on the airline.
Asked what the early indications for the summer are, Perdios said the indications are those we reported a few weeks ago. "Despite the difficulty with the Ukrainian crisis, it is possible to have numbers like 2021. That's what things are pointing to at the moment. We are talking about a season at least at 2021 levels," he said.
After returning to Cyprus, Perdios is expected to visit Britain, France and Poland next.
Source: CNA
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