Tourism Deputy Minister Savvas Perdios has revealed plans for “opening up” the US tourism market, with a visit to New York and Washington DC penned in for January.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency while attending the World Travel Market (WTM) in London’s Excel on Tuesday morning, Perdios noted that 2022 has been “a very good year” with regard to arrivals to Cyprus from its main pool market, the United Kingdom.

According to the Minister, Cyprus has received about 90% of the number of visitors from the UK in 2019, which was a record year for Cypriot tourism.

Building on these encouraging results, Perdios spoke of positive signs for 2023 as well.

“As far as 2023 is concerned, we certainly expect it to be an equally tough year, since we see the geopolitical instability continuing as well as the high inflation. However, I must say that it seems there is not any concern from the UK market for 2023 and we take this to be a positive sign,” the Minister said.

On that point he referred to the newly announced cooperation with Jordan, with which Cyprus will start offering shared travel packages to both countries for international visitors.

“We are aiming for long-haul markets, as is especially the USA. I am in a position to announce that this January the Tourism Ministry will for the first time go to the USA in order to make those first steps, on the ground," he noted.

He added that "we will host events both in New York and in Washington, we will meet with airlines and from there on things will move towards opening up the US market.” 

Perdios also made a particular reference to the fully renovated Cyprus stands at the World Travel Market, declaring his “pride” over the result of three years of hard work.

“We project the authenticity of our island, the importance we now attribute to wine gastronomy, the nature tourism, our villages," he said, noting that "as we speak we are hosting a traditional Cypriot breakfast with goods from local producers and we have invited a lot of people to come and see us."

"There is a feeling of excitement, as our stand is very fresh and very different in comparison to other stands in the WTM; and this is important because we get attention,” said the Minister.

Since the opening of the World Travel Market on Monday Minister Perdios has been holding meetings with large and smaller tour operators, discussing packages for the coming year.