A Cypriot mission is making this week concerted efforts in the context of an international travel trade show in Berlin (ITB) to attract more German tourists to Cyprus.

The Cypriot mission, headed by Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism Yiorgos Lakkotrypis comprises Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Board of Directors’ Vice President Angelos Loizou and CTO Director General Marios Hannides, a CTO press release issued here on Wednesday says.

In a statement Hannides notes that despite difficulties in the German tourist market there is room for improvement provided action is taken in a targeted and timely manner.

The aim is to promote Cyprus’ comparative advantages to German tourists, he says.

Hannides adds that the end result will largely depend on the efforts to establish regular weekly flights from Germany to Cyprus as well as on how responsive big German tour operators will be during their meetings with the Cyprus mission.

Despite the fact that the German tourist market is one of the largest globally with annual total tourist expenditure in the order of 80 billion dollars, German tourist arrivals in Cyprus have followed a downward trend in recent years, the press release says.

In order to reverse this negative trend, the Cypriot mission will focus on the one hand on improving access from Germany to Cyprus and on the other hand it will endeavour to attract large tour operators.

Hannides expresses optimism for tourism within 2014, both as regards tourist arrivals and revenue.