The minister noted that the London exhibition has a special significance for Cyprus, as at the end of the current year the country will have attracted 1.3m visitors from the UK, one third of the total of about four million tourists.

He said that following the meetings the Cypriot delegation had had, the sense is that tour operators and airlines are confident that despite the uncertainty over Brexit, Cyprus will retain the numbers of inbound tourists from the UK, even with an upward trend.

“We are delighted by the fact that in a mature market such as the British one we can maintain our share of it and maybe even increase it. It is quite significant,” he commented.

Lakkotrypis also said that he and the senior management of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation had the opportunity to update tour operators and airlines on future plans for Cypriot tourism, such as the founding of the Under Ministry of Tourism which will start operating from January 2, 2019, as well as the progress of major investments, like the new marinas, golf courses and the casino resort.

Asked about the revenue from tourism in 2018 the Minister said that it is expected to reach €2.7 billion.

“It is an increase; not as big as the arrivals, but the primary goal has been to recapture the share of the market we had lost over the previous 10 or 15 years. Truth be told, we had lost our competitiveness. The national tourism strategy 2030 stipulates that once we have regained our share of the market we will turn to higher quality tourism, which of course requires an upgraded tourism product,” said Lakkotrypis.

Source: Cyprus Mail