“Our ultimate goal is to render sports tourism as an integral part of the country’s tourist product, capable of having multiple added value for our economy,” Perdios said.

Perdios said the Ministry promotes the growth of sports tourism in collaboration with stake holders and referred to the drafting and implementation of a series of incentives schemes.

These schemes, he added, aim at supporting sports events for the winter months, supporting visits by teams, trips abroad to promote Cyprus as a sports tourism destination and the further improvement of infrastructures in cooperation with the public and private sectors.

According to data collected by the Ministry, through the incentive’s schemes, Cyprus hosted in 2018, 189 teams, corresponding to 4,500 athletes totalling 40,000 overnight stays and an average stay of 8.8 days, while the highest demand was recorded in January, February and March.

The estimated economic benefit from sport tourism exceeded €50 million.

The promotion of special forms of tourism constitutes a basic component of the National Strategy for Tourism, drafted by the Deputy Ministry, Perdios said.

He added that the promotion of sports tourism prerequisites the creation of competitive and qualitative tourism services that consolidate Cyprus as an especially attractive destination in an ever-increasing competitive environment.

Concurrently, he concluded, “in making Cyprus a destination for sports we should introduce sports in our life and our culture.”

Source: Financial Mirror