TOURISTS FROM AMSTERDAM

A new charter airline is set to start operations to and from Ercan Airport this year.

Corendon, which is Turkish registered and based in Belgium, Holland and Turkey, will start regular flights on 16th May until 4th October.

Its maiden flight will arrive on the 8th April and be a chance for journalists and travel agents from Belgium and Holland to sample the delights of North Cyprus.

The flights will start in Amsterdam and land en route at a Turkish airport, yet to be confirmed.

Dick Gussen, Corendon’s sales and marketing manager, told Cyprus Today that the flights would be once-weekly.

The first flight would be on a Sunday but the following flights would take place on Mondays, he added.

“Our first plane is already fully booked,” he said. “Most of the tourists will be staying in Girne,” where eight of the nine hotels Corendon has signed contracts with are located.

“If the demand is there, we might even consider increasing the trips to twice a week.

“We will decide whether we are to continue flights in the winter, depending on the demand and feedback we get from customers,” he added.

Mr. Gussen said that North Cyprus was a relative unknown in the Dutch market, which was the reason for a flood of interest following an article about the TRNC in the biggest daily newspaper of the country, The Telegraph.

He said they had focused on several points about North Cyprus, which appealed to the people in the Netherlands.

“One of them is that North Cyprus is unique and undiscovered. Dutch people like to visit new destinations.

“The second is that the place is affordable and the hotels have all the facilities, including casinos.

“The third is that North Cyprus is very rich in culture and history, and mostly all people speak English,” he said.

Tickets to Amsterdam from Ercan will be based on availability. Details of prices have yet to be announced.

EXTRACT FROM CYPRUS TODAY 24 MARCH 2010