Tourism minister calls for internet searches to be translated into bookings

Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios on Friday called on tour operators and hoteliers to turn the increased interest from abroad in visiting Cyprus into bookings.

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency from Athens, where he is currently meeting with tourism industry representatives, Perdios said that Google searches regarding Cyprus have spiked in recent weeks and, based on data collected, half a million visitors from abroad are expected on the island throughout the summer, around 70 per cent of the total recorded in 2019 before the pandemic.

“These numbers give us optimism for the months to come,” he said, adding that the perspectives are even more positive than expected considering the predicted lack of Russian and Ukrainian tourists this summer due to the ongoing war.

He added that in April searches related to Cyprus reached 1.5 million per week, “which demonstrates that there is a huge demand for travelling after two years in which people were locked up at home due to the restrictions.”

Perdios attributed the increased interest to the targeted digital campaigns promoting the island to untraditional markets abroad.

“I am aware that not all searches will translate into bookings, but they certainly show that there is interest in visiting Cyprus.”

Perdios said that 30 per cent of recent searches are from the UK, but that interest levels in many countries have also increased.

“We have boosted the demand to come to Cyprus, a result that we have been trying to achieve for several years,” he said.

According to him, searches from Germany accounted for 12 per cent of the total, 10 per cent came from Scandinavian countries, 9 per cent from Poland, 6 per cent from France, 6 per cent from the US, 5 per cent from Israel, and 3 per cent from Greece.

Moreover, Perdios said there are more people are now looking to book short breaks on the island and to rent cars.

The Deputy Minister will travel to Saudi Arabia at the end of May to meet with his Saudi counterpart. Following the trip, he is scheduled to also visit France in June, where he is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the tourism board of the region of Alsace.