The CTO said all the signs were encouraging, following its participation in the Destinations Holiday and Travel Show held recently in London and Manchester.

“There was keen interest in information and brochures for this year’s summer holidays in Cyprus,” it said.

According to the most recent estimates airline seats for the upcoming summer season from the UK are around 33,000 higher compared to last summer, while UK operators spoke of an increase of 10- 15% on bookings already made, compared with the corresponding period last year.

The CTO said it was intensifying its activities in the UK market, the island’s largest though it has declined significantly in recent years. The market is likely being helped by the favourable exchange rate between the British pound sterling and the euro.

In 2014, total arrivals from the United Kingdom reached 871,000 representing 36% of total tourist arrivals.

Twelve years ago it was almost double that but UK operators had complained that the British market had been left on autopilot when Cyprus turned to Russia to build up that market. Now the Russian market is facing difficulties and Cyprus could see a 25% drop from there in 2015. Around 700,000 Russians visited last year.

The state of the tourism industry will be debated next Tuesday at the annual general meeting of the Cyprus Hotel Association. Conference topics will include air communications prospects – given the demise of Cyprus Airways, the outlook for the Russian market and the role of tourism post-crisis. The event will be addressed by top tourism officials and experts. The media part of the conference will be address by Tourism Minister Giorgos Lakkotrypis among others.

Sponsors of the event include PwC, RCB Bank, Aegean Airlines, the CTO, Hermes Airports, CyTA, Theova UHS Enterprise Solutions, Travel Trade Cyprus, Hellenic Bank, Hilton Park and CY Printers.

Source: Cyprus Mail