Raft of new low-cost flights from Paphos

EASYJET and Jet2 airlines are both starting new flights to Paphos for the summer season.

As of April 14, easyJet will begin flights from Bristol to Paphos four times a week and Edinburgh to Paphos twice a week. The low-cost airline already operates a number of flights to and from Cyprus, mainly from Paphos to Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester.

Jet2’s new flights for summer will start from the beginning of May and there will be weekly flights from Paphos to East Midlands and Newscastle until October 31.

The new flights were announced by Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Chairman Alecos Orountiotis, who was in London for a series of meetings on Thursday and Friday with Uk tour operators and airlines as part of the efforts to boost tourism to the island.

Jet2 estimatesit will carry 82,400 passengers to Cyprus in 2010 compared to 37,000 in 2009, while Easyjet will be able to carry 225,000 passengers in 2010 compared to 155,000 in 2009.

Tour operators pledged to maintain the same number of passengers as in 2009 or even increase it slightly, the CTO said, adding that Cyprus remained a popular tourist destination.

Orountiotis said that Cyprus is not a cheap destination but CTO and other tourist professionals are making efforts to upgrade the level of services for tourists.

Hoteliers warned on Thursday that a slight boost in tourist arrivals this year would not be enough to take the ailing sector back on path to recovery.

Despite some positive signs in recent weeks, with an increase in hotel reservations compared to the same period last year, one should not use 2009 as a measure of comparison since that year was the worst in the decade, they said.

Latest available figures for 2009 showed an 11 per cent drop in arrivals, and a 17 per cent drop in revenue.

Commerce, Industry and Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides concedes that 2009 was a “particularly difficult year for our tourism” but said this should be seen in the wider context of the global economic crisis.

The minister said also that the doomsayers, who had predicted an even worse year for 2009, had been proven wrong.

The government anticipates that the operation of marinas and theme parks will give a much-needed boost to tourism this summer.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.