Exeter Airport will welcome over two thousand Austrian passengers this year with the first of the series of flights starting on Saturday 28 May.
In a tourism initiative in conjunction with the tour operator GTA-SKY-WAYS and the airline NIKI, Exeter will be the gateway airport for a total of six inbound flights from Vienna and Salzburg.
Jamie Christon, Exeter Airport’s managing director said: “This year’s boost to tourism follows the success of the Austrian flights over the past two years which brought in a total one thousand visitors to the area. The passengers in 2009 and 2010 were primarily interested in Rosamund Pilcher as the TV programmes of her books were made in the region. The 2011 passengers will be on a series of escorted excursions which will take in a much larger area of the country and Exeter is playing a pivotal role in the holiday.”
The airline, Niki, founded by the three times Formula 1 champion Niki Lauda is a member of the Air Berlin group, will fly into Devon bringing one hundred and eighty Austrian tourists per flight on an eight day holiday starting and finishing in Exeter.
The itinerary offers a ‘discovery’ of Exeter and the Cathedral area before a tour of the south of England which includes Poole, Southampton, Stonehenge and Glastonbury. On the return to region the travellers visit Knights Hayes Court near Tiverton and experience a drive across Dartmoor to Plymouth. The visitors from Austria will see the tourist attractions of Lanhydrock House and The Lost Gardens of Heligan then visit Penzance, St.Michael’s Mount, Land’s End, St Ives and Polperro before returning to Exeter for their flight home.
