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Perdios: Famagusta area to become a year-round tourist destination

12/05/2022 14:32

The Ayia Napa marina has the potential to attract special types of tourism to the region, such as conferences and cruises, turning Famagusta region into a year-round tourist destination, Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios, said in statements on the sidelines of the Famagusta Business Forum.

Perdios said that the Business Forum, which is being held for the first time in Famagusta, is very important. "We have admired this fantastic marina and the building we were in, I think it is something innovative for the Famagusta area," he noted and added that "this gem is not only for yachting, restaurants, etc.", but "it has the opportunity to attract to the region special types of tourism, such as conferences, cruises."

The region should take advantage of the grant schemes of the Tourism Ministry, added Perdios, especially for the special types of tourism, for the winter months, so that the region of Famagusta can become a year-round tourist destination, as is the goal of the Ministry.

Asked about this year's tourism results so far, the Minister replied that the tourist year did not start badly. The first four months of the year reached 70% compared to 2019.

"Considering that in these four months the war in Ukraine started and there was an outbreak of the Omicron variant, this outcome is not bad. We feel, observing the internet searches related to holidays in Cyprus, that there is increased interest," he noted.

In addition, Perdios said that we have attracted new markets to Cyprus, as well as markets that we may have omitted in recent decades, such as Germany, Austria, Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, France. "We are optimistic. We understand that areas like this suffer more than others, but tourism nowadays needs flexibility and nothing should taken for granted," he said, adding that we should not consider 2019's four million arrivals as a starting point for each year.