The decision was made by the Ministerial Committee on Tourism, consisting of the Ministers of Finance, Energy and Transport, as well as the Deputy Minister in spite of the President. The Ministerial Committee discussed this issue in a meeting on 7/9/2015 and decided to promote this pilot program after concluding that the method of promotion of Cyprus, as a tourist destination, by airlines is a modern marketing method that uses the internet and social media for effective viewing in terms of population range and cost.
Aegean Airlines, Norwegian Airlines and Thomas Cook were selected from 20 airlines that account for 80% of total air traffic at our airports, based on the model of operation of the airline, their experience in such a destination and their geographical features, which refer to the markets that can cover and are the markets that, as both CTO and Hermes identify, seem to have the greatest perspective or are markets where the promotion and market share of Cyprus is not satisfactory whatever. These markets are the United Kingdom, Scandinavia and Continental Europe such as France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany.