In recent years, Cyprus has undergone a major upgrading of its conferences and incentives tourism product and efforts are constantly being made through various promotional activities to increase awareness and develop this market.
As part of this ongoing programme, the Cyprus Tourism Organisation in the UK recently participated in the Meetings Show, held at London`s Olympia from 7th until 9th July. The exhibition is now in its third year and had 550 global exhibitors from various sectors of the industry. The hosted buyers programme saw over 12,000 pre-scheduled appointments with buyers from the UK, Europe and as far afield as the US.
Apart from a number of ad hoc visitors to the Cyprus stand, the CTO representatives had around 30 scheduled meetings over the course of the exhibition. A presentation highlighting the upgraded Cyprus C&I product to the buyers was made and discussions were held on the various opportunities available for meetings and events.
Local suppliers that joined CTO on the stand included Thanos Hotels, the Adams Beach, GrandResort and Event Makers.
On the second evening of the Show, CTO UK also participated in the highly successful annual Oyster Summer party, where over 17 overseas Convention Bureaux hosted an event at a prestigious venue in central London. Over 200 buyers attended the event where they were able to enjoy a number of ‘experiences’ organised by each participating convention bureau, such as wine-tasting, cookery, henna painting, chocolate and waffle tasting and a magic show.
The CTO were joined by Tonia Buxton, TV chef, presenter and writer, who offered a ‘Taste of Cyprus’ with an array of local produce including halloumi cheese, olives, carob pastellaki, soujouko and other sweets unique to Cyprus, as well as award-winning Commandaria, which were greatly enjoyed by guests.