North to invest more in promoting tourism

The north is further promoting tourism in the UK market through participation in the World Travel Market tourism trade show in London, ‘deputy prime minister’ and ‘tourism minister’ Fikri Ataoglu said on Tuesday.

According to the Press and Information Office, the Turkish Cypriot press reported that Ataoglu attended the trade show and came in contact with local and foreign tourism agents, as well as meeting with Turkish culture and tourism minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Turkish ambassador to London Osman Koray Ertas, and Azerbaijan’s deputy minister of tourism Kanan Gasimov.

Referring to the north’s good relations with Azerbaijan, Ataoglu said that the ‘government’ will soon sign a cooperation agreement with the country.

He also spoke of the importance of the World Travel Market trade show, which attaches greater importance to the UK market, and said that further promotional actions have been taken to promote tourism in the north after the broadcast of commercials made in collaboration with the Turkish ministry of culture and tourism on British television and online.

He also reminded that airline SunExpress has begun flights, adding that they are also negotiating with new airlines and there may be new developments in the near future.

For his part, Ersoy said that efforts are continuing to make flights to and from the occupied territories possible through Turkey.

A meeting was also held with the tourism minister of Bulgaria to that end, with Ersoy saying that with the completion of the international control process, will be given to more promotional campaigns.

In the meantime, the TC press reports that the number of passengers at the illegal airport in occupied Tymbou increased by 32 per cent between January and September 2023, with number of flights also increasing by 17 per cent during the same period.

According to data provided by T&T, the operator of the illegal airport, 2,859,120 passengers flew to and from Tymbou between January and September compared to 2,158,515 in the same period in 2022.

In addition, between January and September 2023, airport was used by 19,357 aircraft compared to 16,584 in the same period last year.

The north is currently served by Turkish Airlines, Anadolu Jet, Pegasus, Kıbrıs Hava Yolları and Sun Express.