Filenews 27 November 2022 - by Adamos Adamou
In addition to efforts to enhance the flow of tourism from EU countries and neighbouring countries, the new year is expected to seek to open up the US market. In this context, Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios will be in America in January, with the aim, as he states in "F", not of direct flights, but of enhancing the visibility of Cyprus.
The reports were made in an interview he gave to "F" where he was asked whether we will have tourists from the US in the new year, with the deputy minister pointing out that this year we also had Americans. "Arrivals from the U.S. by October amounted to 32,000 and it is not excluded that by the end of the year we will approach 40,000, which come through other countries, mostly through London or via Germany," he said.
The aim, according to Mr. Perdios, is to enhance the visibility of Cyprus in America. "In January in the US we don't go with a requirement to get direct flights. We want to start with a low bar and because this idea of direct flights has been mentioned many times in Cyprus, we have to be a little realistic. We are a country of 800,000 and sometimes we get confused because we see Greece doing some things and we don't realize that Greece is a country of 10 million and that he has a huge diaspora living in America." According to him, first we need to create tourist demand and then talk about direct flights.
"So, we chose two ways to penetrate the market. First is through the joint tourist packages with Jordan, which were recently announced in London." From week to week, the deputy minister will be in Jordan again for contacts with Royal Jordanian, with the aim, in view of the trip to the US, to be able to present the Royal Jordanian package, through which, with the direct flight America - Amman of the company, then the residents of the USA can also come to Cyprus.
The second way to penetrate the US will be through the cooperation that exists between British Airways and American Airlines. "Already the two companies are jointly selling the ticket New York - Cyprus. You can still go today or come from America via London and your suitcases continue as normal, you should not take them to London and check in etc, based on their codeshare agreement".
"We have already informed British Airways of our intention to attract the US and we will soon also inform American Airlines, which we will certainly attempt to see in America," he said. Mr. Perdios will initially visit Washington, D.C., where an event will be organized with the ATTA (Adventure Travel Tourism Association) and then he will participate in two events in New York, with the Diaspora and with ASTA (American Society of Travel Advisors).
