Cyprair to double holiday capacity

CYPRAIR Holidays, the Cyprus Airways (CY) owned tour operator says it will double its capacity to Cyprus next year.

The UK-based company has added two more hotels to its destination list and now expects to bring 50,000 tourists to Cyprus from Britain in 1999, double its current capacity, according to reports from London.

Tailor-made packages for groups of 20 or more include bird-watching tours, trekking and cycling, for around £600 sterling for May.

Cyprair is wholly owned by CY, and last year the company managed substantially to increase its turnover from £5.5 million in 1996 to £7.1 million in 1997.

This was due to an increase in passengers carried by CY and to the strengthening of Sterling against the Cyprus pound.

The company recorded a profit before taxation of £480,000 last year compared to £13,000 in 1996.

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.