The Cyprus Tourism Organisation is aiming to cook up a storm of interest in the island next year with three major sponsorship deals.
The island is putting its name against a 10-part series, My Cypriot Kitchen, on the Discovery Real Time channel; the 2010 FXPro Cyprus Rally, taking place from November 4-6; and the inaugural one-day Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally on November 7.
And with the Nick Faldo-designed golf course at the Elea Golf & Spa Resort near Paphos opening last month, and operators offering a raft of new products for 2011, agents have even more reasons to sell Cyprus next year.
“Looking to 2011, early signs are a lot more optimistic,” says Prestige Holidays chairman and managing director John Dixon. “Bookings are already up on this time last year, and I am confident Cyprus will do much better in 2011.”
Here are some of the latest developments that are adding to the product mix for 2011.
Operators
For 2011, Thomas Cook has added to its range of exclusive properties and introduced more all-inclusives, regional departures and flexible durations, along with free kids places, free in-flight meals for kids and 10kg free infant baggage allowance.
One of its four new FamilyWorld Resorts is in Cyprus – the four-star Dome Beach in Nissi Bay. A seven-night all-inclusive FamilyWorld break costs from £1,400 in May for a family of three, which includes one free child place, and flights from Gatwick.
For next summer, Thomas Cook has also added a new Cyprus property to its Aquamania Resorts programme. Seven nights’ all-inclusive at the four-star Tsokkos Marlita Beach Hotel, Protaras costs from £1,218 for a family of three, which includes one free child place and flights from Gatwick, departing May 2011.
Sister brand Airtours has a new dedicated Families brochure for 2011 and its new Sunsplash Resorts programme features the family-friendly three-star-plus Anastasia Beach Complex, Protaras. A seven-night all-inclusive stay leads in at £1,198 for a family of three, including one free child place, departing Gatwick in May 2011.
In its new 2011 Cyprus brochure Sunvil Holidays highlights the wide variety of holiday options and experiences to be had on the island, with early booking offers on a large selection of properties, including a saving of £50 per booking on villas booked before December 31.
New accommodation includes the adults-only boutique Library Hotel, a restored 19th-century property with a small spa, eight rooms and three suites, located in the village of Kalavasos, and the five-star Asimina Suites Hotel in Paphos, the newest flagship luxury product from the Constantinou Hotels Group.
Prices start at £1,087 per person, based on two sharing, including seven nights’ bed and breakfast, return flights from Gatwick and private transfers. Send clients looking for a bit of prime luxury to the suites with private pools.
Jet2.com will launch new routes to Larnaca and Paphos from Manchester airport for summer 2011. Flights to Paphos will depart twice-weekly throughout the summer, commencing April 6, 2011, with the Larnaca service departing every Saturday from May 14, 2011, with one-way flights from £69.99 per person.
Packages from Jet2holidays, which saw sales of its package holidays to Paphos and Larnaca increase by more than 100% for Summer 2010, year on year, will lead in at £299 per person next year, and for Summer 2011 the company aims to feature more all-inclusive hotels.
Cosmos is featuring a couple of new properties in Paphos in its Summer 2011 brochure. The Azia Blue at Azia Resort and Spa is a new five-star property, and a member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, while the Paphos Gardens is an affordable three-star option offering hotel and self-catering accommodation. For the latter, guests have the option of upgrading to bed and breakfast, half-board or full-board basis for a supplement.
To further drive sales for 2010-11, Prestige Holidays is offering some keen deals for its Cyprus product through its Prestige Plus programme, with child discounts or free child places, early booking offers and free nights, like a seven-nights-for-the-price-of-six offer at its featured properties such as the Columbia Beach Resort and the InterContinental Aphrodite Hills Resort.
Hotels
Louis Hotels is planning two major refurbishments and renovations at its hotels in Paphos this winter, due for completion in time for the 2011 summer season.
The Louis Phaethon Beach will remain closed while undergoing a complete renovation. Wooden floors will replace carpets and more stylish bedlinen and soft furnishings will be used throughout. It will also receive a new water park with six slides. The existing pool will be given a facelift and an additional pool featuring a Jacuzzi.
At Ledra Beach, following the completion of the first phase of renovations, from December 2 to February 28 the hotel’s remaining 78 rooms will be renovated, as well as its corridors and main restaurant. The property will also be rebranded as a Louis hotel after the franchise agreement with Iberostar ends on December 31.
This winter the five-star St Raphael Resort in Limassol, featured by operators such as Planet Holidays, Olympic Holidays and Cyplon, will be renovating its spa and health centre.
The spa is due to reopen in April, complete with new luxurious treatment rooms, offering new treatments like Arabic Rasul, a new sauna, steam room and Jacuzzi – as well as a new hair salon, upgraded gym and new changing rooms.
Other new additions include a beachside restaurant, Beach Tavern, opening next summer to replace the existing Beach Bar.
Kanika Hotels’ Olympic Lagoon Resort in Ayia Napa, sold exclusively by Thomas Cook in the UK, is undergoing a €12 million expansion and renovation programme, due to be completed in April, 2011.
The expanded resort will feature improved children’s facilities and 320 rooms offering 1,000 beds. A new Fisherman’s Village area will feature restaurants and an adult-only accommodation wing containing 20 superior rooms, plus a replica of a traditional Cyprus fishing village and a harbour!
Its new Olympic Lagoon Beach Club is designed to be an ‘exclusive’ area, with 19 exclusive beachfront superior rooms boasting VIP check-in and check-out and an exclusive private breakfast.
Weddings
Weddings and honeymoons has long been a bread-and-butter market for Cyprus, although an unflattering exchange rate has affected the market in recent times.
However, Olympic Holidays weddings executive Fanoulla Spyrou says the destination is more in demand than ever and the operator has ramped up its product range in its Weddings, Honeymoons & Renewal of Vows brochure for 2011. It offers 37 Cyprus hotels hosting wedding ceremonies and nearly half of them have their own chapel.
“Marrying in Cyprus gives outstanding value. Above the cost of their holiday, the couple only have to pay the administration fee, the cost of the ceremony (including licence) and for any extras,” says Spyrou.
“With the economy still sorting itself out, and couples unwilling to splash out on a long-haul wedding, Cyprus is being seen as the perfect spot to get married,” she says.
A Cyprus wedding/honeymoon package in April 2011, marrying and staying at the five-star Coral Beach Hotel & Resort in Paphos, costs from £2,799 with Olympic, including the wedding administration fee (£199), ceremony costs (from 870 euro), a bronze extras package (£199) and seven nights’ half-board accommodation with flights (£1,645).
Over at Prestige Holidays, new products for 2011 include wedding packages at the Coral Beach hotel, one of its star performers last year, backed by all-inclusive options for honeymooners. It is also offering wedding packages at Cyprus’s Thalassa Boutique Hotel & Spa for the first time next year.
