“After a very good tourist season this year from the German market, it appears that the momentum will continue in 2017,” a spokesman for the Paphos Regional Board of Tourism (PRBT) told the press.

Next year’s services will comprise twice-weekly services between Paphos and Hamburg, Nuremberg, Munich, Berlin and Stuttgart, plus weekly services to Dresden. Three weekly flights will operate between Düsseldorf and Paphos.

The PRBT said that while about 3% of annual arrivals in Cyprus came from Germany, a quarter of these, or about 30,000 came to Paphos.

While not a large market, tourism from Germany is a significant tranche for Paphos, not least because of the preference of travellers to visit out of season.

“The German market can ease our problem of seasonality,” the spokesman said. “German visitors like nature, archaeological sites, outdoor and activities that take place all year round.”

In recent years, visitor numbers from Germany were dropping, causing concern amongst stakeholders.

The PRBT said that, by August this year, official statistics indicated an increase of around 8% year-on-year.

“By the end of this year, we expect further recovery,” a PRBT spokesman said. “Locally, this market is growing steadily. We see it as one that can be developed further.”

This past September, 13,014 German tourists visited Cyprus. The UK is still the leading tourist market in Cyprus with 149,586 Brits visiting in September, followed by Russia which had 114,455.

Berlin-based Germania serves millions of passengers annually. The airline’s route network currently includes destinations in Europe, North Africa and West Asia. In total, Germania operates 22 aircraft.

The PRBT said the new services will represent the first time Paphos has been so well connected to Germany.

“We are marketing Paphos very actively now that we have direct flights to these cities. We are sure the number of tourists from Germany will grow in 2017.”

Source: InCyprus