The government and Hermes Airports have signed an agreement to stimulate tourism.
The agreement, expected to increase tourist arrivals by 3,5 million and revenue by 2,3 billion euro in the next five years, was signed by Minister of Communication and Works Efthymios Flourentzou and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hermes Airports Iacovos Iacovou.
“The agreement, which we have just signed, concerns schemes offering incentives to the airlines and is another one step towards the direction of boosting the local economy,” Flourentzou said and thanked the representatives of Hermes Airports for the cooperation and the successful conclusion of the agreement.
Iacovou stressed that the agreement is of great importance for Cyprus since it would help increase the number of tourists by 3,5 million and provide an additional income of 2,3 billion euro to Cyprus during the next five years.
Nicos Shacolas, Honorary Chairman of Hermes Airports, pointed out that the agreement constitutes a great incentive for economic growth, which would not cost the government anything.
The agreement will bring significant income to Cyprus since there would also be an increase in hotel units and an increase in other services linked to the tourist industry, Shacolas added.
The government announced on December 28, 2011, three incentive schemes, drafted by the Ministries of Communications and Finance in collaboration with Hermes, aiming at attracting tourist arrivals mainly from new destinations through a discount in airport charges. The airport charges reduction cost will be shared by Hermes at a rate of 64.48% and by the government at 35.52%.
The first scheme concerns the introduction of new routes and is addressed to airlines that would increase their total passenger volumes with the introduction of new routes to Cyprus.
The second scheme covers the winter tourist season for the period of November to March, including airlines that would increase their passenger transportation to Cyprus from current destinations, with the exemption of ''Eleftherios Venizelos'' in Athens and London's Heathrow.
The third scheme is an incentive scheme for the development of long-term passenger transportation up to five years, addressed to airlines that would base aircraft at Larnaca and Pafos airports and that would commit to a five-year development plan by introducing new routes or by increasing their passenger delivery volumes to Cyprus from current routes.
