JEDDAH, 6 August 2006 — Saudi Arabian Airlines and Cyprus Airways have entered into a code share agreement, which entitles Saudia to promote tourist and business traffic to the island from its overseas locations. It’s a special prorating agreement, according to the Cyprus Airways. The agreement will especially enable Saudia to sell Cyprus tickets from all of its overseas locations.
Describing the current summer traffic to Cyprus as “very good, very encouraging,” George Kapello, Cyprus Airways manager for Saudi Arabia, told Arab News yesterday that tourism arrivals in the island from all over the world have been steady.
“In fact, they have gone up by 12 percent during the current year from this part of the world.” The outflow of vacationers from the Kingdom and elsewhere in the Arab world into the island continues. “Our ‘meet and assist’ facility and Arabic speaking guides have found favor with Saudi and other Arab tourists,” Kapello said, adding that a major attraction for tourists is that the island can be reached from Jeddah in two-and-a-half hours.
Passengers heading for European destinations including the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and France have been using Larnaca as a transit point. Cyprus Airways operates weekly two flights on Thursday (Jeddah-Riyadh-Larnaca) and Sunday (Riyadh-Jeddah-Larnaca), on Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.
The airline has also been assisting Saudi and expatriate travelers in facilitating the grant of visas for the island within 48 hours of the receipt of requests with the help of its Jeddah-based Cyprus’ Honorary Consul Muhammad Al-Fadl.
“What’s more, Cyprus — situated at the northeastern end of the Mediterranean basin — with its slogan ‘So different and yet so familiar’ is the safest island with varied attractions for families, students and children,” Kapello added.
The island, with its 750,000 population, gets a good number of students from the Arab world and also other parts of the globe, as it has some of the most reputable universities and colleges. For children, it has many recreational facilities including water and Luna parks.
Major tourists to Cyprus, a member of the European Union, are from Europe. Arrivals from Russia to Cyprus were up 49.6 percent year on year in June and 32 percent for the first half of the year, while arrivals from Gulf countries were up 16.3 percent in June and 21.8 percent for the first six months of the year. “Conference and incentive groups have mostly contributed to a steep jump in tourist arrivals in Cyprus from the Arab world and the rest of the world,” Kapello said.
