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There is serious potential for a direct flight to and from Saudi Arabia, says the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Savvas Perdios, who stresses that the possible realization of this flight will unlock the interest of the Saudi tourist market towards Cyprus.
Mr Perdios is in Jeddah for contacts with officials and tourism bodies, with the primary objective of exploiting the momentum created for the establishment of a flight linking the two countries, a goal that Cyprus has been claiming for three years. He had separate contacts at the highest level with the country's Chamber of Commerce and Civil Aviation, while meetings were also held with airlines, tourism operators such as travel agencies, tour operators and cruise companies. Perdios from Jeddah.
He said, "We held the meetings both to create momentum and to better assess whether there is interest or whether there will be interest (for a direct flight) and I have to say that everyone was very, very positive." He added that "it seems that once the flight comes in at the same time there will be serious interest for Cyprus from this market."
The Deputy Minister of Tourism pointed out that Cyprus prefers that the flight connecting the two countries, whichever airline operates it, should be from Jeddah and not from Riyadh.
As Perdios explained, the reason why we consider Jeddah as the most ideal destination is because the flight is 90 minutes, which will allow us to take advantage of quick getaways, conference tourism and cruise, since both Cyprus and Saudi Arabia are the starting points of cruise companies.
"As the cruises are short days, the length of the flight from Jeddah is very attractive so that we can also attract cruise tourism, but it is also certainly attractive for Cypriots who would like to do cruise tourism in Jeddah," he added.
Asked what the realisation of the flight will depend on, Perdios said that the companies with which discussions are taking place have not made final decisions because they have not finalised their plans for 2022. "Generally it's a period when they are locking in schedules for 2022," he added.
"We talked about the promotions that need to be done, we received encouragement for our new identity and our digital campaigns, as we were told this is a market with a preference for digital channels," he added.
Pointing out that efforts to carry out a direct flight with Saudi Arabia have been going on for three years. Perdio observed that "things are changing, they are more receptive and open and are willing to travel."
"We believe it is the right time and that is why we made this trip," he added."
He also said that as a matter of policy, when actions are taken to open a new route, the Ministry of State is talking about twice a week because one flight a week is not enough to penetrate a market.
The Deputy Minister of Tourism also noted that in his contacts he also conveyed a message from the Minister of Transport to the airlines that Cyprus would have no problem in evaluating a request to carry passengers from a third country (the so-called 5th freedom) if it is submitted.
From Jeddah, Mr Perdios will leave tomorrow for Dubai where he will join the delegation of the President of the Republic who is visiting the United Arab Emirates.
He said he will have a bilateral meeting with his counterpart there, as well as a joint meeting with the UAE Minister of Culture along with Minister of Transport Communications and Works Yannis Caruso, with the agenda to include issues such as the digitisation of culture in tourism, the inclusion of artificial intelligence and issues related to cultural monuments.
Source: CNA
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