PAPHOS - THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS TOURISM THE FIRST CONCERN WITH THE RETURN OF NORMALITY

 Filenews 5 September 2020 - by Dora Christodoulou

The promotion of the province of Paphos as an area of religious tourism, will be the primary concern of the tourist operators of the province with the definitive restoration of normality after the pandemic. This initiative, reported by the 'F', is undertaken after it was found that in all other areas of tourism specialisation the results of the relevant strategies have paid off, even if due to a pandemic this year this has not been fully understood, whereas on the contrary religious tourism falls far short of all others.

At the end of the exceptional circumstances, whether they relate to the beginning of 2021 or at a later stage, these factors stress, efforts will be intensified on the basis of pre-pandemic preparations in various areas. Already, a special form has been released with information on the most important monasteries and churches of the province. The purpose of the form, distributed free of charge, is to inform visitors and especially Russians who, as Orthodox people, show a strong interest in monuments of religious interest.

The initiators of the effort point out that it was de facto impossible to include all the churches and religious monuments of Paphos in this form, but the visitor is given the opportunity to know the long history of the place, following in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul.

The need for the movement of a tour guide arose from the great interest of tourists, mainly Russians, for pilgrimage tours, for this form trek is in Russian and includes a road map for more complete information.

"European and Russian visitors are looking to the destinations of their choice for original experiential experiences," these factors observed. "In the face of this international trend, Paphos opens horizons to new forms of tourism by following a different way of organizing from the traditional model of tourism, namely "Sun - sea - hospitality".

Paphos, its operators point out, rightly prides itself on having managed to develop various alternative forms of tourism aimed at enriching the tourist product and softening seasonality.

"An interesting form of alternative tourism to which we attach particular importance", they concluded, "is religious tourism. Year after year there has been an increase in tourists from eastern and religiously Orthodox countries, mainly from Russia."