Cyprus: desperately looking for tourists

Gone is the image of all-inclusive hotels and the lazy beaches of Limassol, the tourist capital of Cyprus. Russians, second clientele on the island behind the English, having left for an indefinite period, it is necessary to find other sources of foreign currency.

So Cyprus draws the map of responsible, ecological and sustainable tourism, to seduce a new public, and why not the French? They were 40,000 before the Covid crisis, it’s barely 1% of total arrivals, but Christophe Chaillou is hopeful that this will progress.

The Frenchman has lived in Cyprus for more than forty years, where he runs an incoming tourism agency. “There are agritourism, traditional hotels, spas in the middle of the forest, which are fantastic products that are out of the ordinary.“

Especially since where the shoe pinches, the air service to Cyprus is improving a little: “Since this year, we have had a number of direct flights from France, Paris, Marseille, Beauvais as well, details Christophe Chaillou. We think that for 2023, it looks pretty good.“

French tour operators follow the destination closely. The group Salaun Holidays already offers a grand tour of the island in eight days and a Christmas market stay this winter, inspired by Alsace. For Jean-Michel Caradec, General Manager of Services at Salaun HolidaysCyprus have some‘coming :

“The post-Covid situation and the conflict in Ukraine have profoundly changed the habits of our customers. Today, we have a lot less long haul. We have to find other solutions. We were a major tour operator ourselves, especially in Russia, and so we have to find destinations and this is one of them, clearly.“

The Cypriot government is pulling out all the stops to try to replace 2.3 million tourists missing, between Russes and English, and compensate for a loss estimated at 600 million euros this year. he goes Thus dedicate 15% of its budget total to a promotional campaign for the destination. Savvas Perdios, Minister of Tourism, clearly displays the color: “On is a very popular destination during the summer, thanks to the beach, the sun and the sea. What we are doing is giving more options for people so that they can come during the winter and also visit our villages and frankly see the true authenticity of the island. It’s the two together !“

The problem is that Cyprus has long suffered from a lack of image and identity. Some people still think it’s a Greek island! The case is important. In this small country of just over a million people, the tourism sector accounted for up to 15% of GDP in good years before Covid.

The advantage of Cyprus is to be accessiwheat in all seasons, assures Jean-Michel Caradec, general manager of services at Salaun Holidays :

“It’s a four and a half hour flight from Paris and you can go there all year round. It’s good to have possibilities during the French holidays, but we have retirees in particular who travel all year round. And a destination where you find in the middle of winter, 20 or 22 degrees, it remains very attractive for this clientele.“

The future will quickly tell if this new positioning of Cyprus, more nature and more green, works. A recent survey showed in any case that 44% of French people were ready to pay more for a stay in order to travel more sustainably, provided that the offer exists.

L’incoming tourism agency by Christophe Chaillou Creative Tours

Go to Cyprus with the French tour operator Salaun Holidays

Discover all about wine culture at the Oenou Yi winery (Ktima Vassiliades) on the heights of Omodos

Stay at the 5* Four Seasons Hotel in Limassol

Go to Cyprus with the Cypriot airline Tus Airways, which offers direct flights to Larnaca from Paris CDG and Toulouse

Find this column in the magazine, on the app and the international mobility site “French abroad.fr”