Cyprus Tourism. Say Hallou-mi to Cyprus.
Key Metrics.
70+
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1.5k
Pop-Up Bookings
155k
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Record-breaking visitor numbers.
The Mediterranean island of Cyprus has grown a reputation as a destination more attractive to families and retirees than experience-loving young professionals. So, to increase visitors we were briefed with reaching younger professional Londoners seeking cultural experiences to drive consideration and visitor numbers.
Having been presented with an unsurprising array of ‘sand and sea’ destination USPs, we knew we needed a creative route that would resonate better. We needed to put the right part of Cypriot culture on Londoners’ doorsteps so they’d learn about it through their newsfeeds.
The solution? The Cypriot national cheese of halloumi – slightly overlooked in-destination but loved as the greatest addition to British barbeques of the last five years. But how to use halloumi to create talkability for Cyprus?
Create London’s first Halloumi-only pop-up restaurant is how!
Forging a restaurant partnership to manage the food ideation, we created a media storm around our sell-out pop-up. We celebrated the UK’s love of the squeaky cheese by creating a complete menu of halloumi-based dishes from halloumi waffles, wedges and popcorn to halloumi ice cream.
Within an hour of issuing the announcement press release, Metro had run the story and our first booking had already come in. The next day Time Out had run a piece and we were up to 80 bookings. Just five days after the announcement, the restaurant was sold out with coverage across the Evening Standard, LAD Bible, Unilad, Hello!, Stylist, The Sun, Huffington Post, MTV, The Culture Trip and countless others.
A simple idea and smart implementation has driven heightened awareness of Cyprus and contributed to record-breaking visitor numbers from the UK.
Mr Yiorgos Lakkotrypis • Minister of Tourism • Cyprus Tourism Organisation
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