Tourism council meets for the fist time

THE NATIONAL Council for Tourism met yesterday for the first time, under the aegis of president Clerides.

Set up by the Council of Ministers, the council includes six ministers as well as 45 representatives from the private sector.

Commerce and Industry Minister, Kyriakos Christofi, said there had been a good exchange of views, mainly from the private sector on the role and function of the Tourism Council. This was important as the Council would have to tackle many diverse issues in the future.

“The general consensus,” said Christofi, “was that the formation of this body was a positive move, and all expressed willingness to act, each in his own way, for the successful… functioning of the body.”

Christofi said committees dealing with specific issues would be appointed and the Council would re-convene at the end of the month to decide committee regulations. Draft regulations would be prepared by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The Minister also stressed the advisory role the Council would play, complementing government tourism policies.

Asked why it had taken so long to set up the Council, Christofi replied that few European countries had such bodies and that there had been no delay on the Cypriot front. In this matter, said Christofi, Cyprus might even be regarded “a pioneer”.

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