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A delegation headed by the Minister of Tourism of Cyprus visited Israel in order to strengthen tourist links between the two countries. Director General for the Cyprus Tourist Organisation, Phoebe Katsouris: “We have received excellent feedback from Israeli wholesalers and we promise to improve efficiency.”

A delegation from Cyprus, visiting Israel to look for business opportunities, met with Israeli tourism wholesalers and with representatives of the two scheduled airlines, Arkia and Cyprus Airways that operate between the two countries, as well as with organizers of charter companies and requested from them to try and increase the number of seats offered on the route.

According to Katsouris, the preference is to see the route operated by low cost airlines.  “The economic recession caused damage to all of us and for the time being we want to leverage tourism from Israel and to maintain it at a high level throughout the year,” said Katsouris.

According to Katsouris, Cyprus which is part of the European Union offers more than just beaches and exotic islands.  When asked why Cyprus was not a preferred destination for Israelis, now that Israelis were keeping their distance from Turkey, she responded: “I know that our prices are higher than those in Turkey, but we are doing many things in order to reduce them.”

In its attempts to recover from the worldwide recession, the Cypriot government has lowered the rate of VAT for hotels and on airport landing fees. However, according to Katsouris, Cyprus Airways, the national carrier, responsible for most of the movement on the route, has not adapted itself to the new situation and has not bothered reducing the cost of fares which remain high.

 “We cannot subsidize the air fares like has been done by many of governments of the European Union,” she admitted.  “But we are certainly pressing for a decision to increase the supply.”

In the meantime, Minister of Tourism Misezhnikov responded to the invitation from his Cypriot counterpart for a return visit. “Israel and Cyprus have much in common and cooperation in marketing to the world will increase the volume of tourism activity in both countries and will serve as an additional layer in the warm relations between the two countries.