CTO eyes Russia’s religious tourists

THE CYPRUS Tourism Organisation (CTO) yesterday announced plans to tap into the Russian market for religious tourism on the island.
CTO representatives attended the Fifth International Pilgrimages Conference in Moscow, where the general conclusion was that there is great interest from Russians for religious tourism in Cyprus.
“The Cyprus representation realised that there is a lot of interest by Russians to visit religious monuments in Cyprus and participate in religious rituals. The need was identified for specific programmes to be compiled in co-operation with the Church of Cyprus and their presentation to the Moscow Patriarch,” a CTO statement read.
“We also confirmed the usefulness of planning and implementing a specialised campaign to promote the programmes that will be agreed with the Patriarch to use all means of promoting Cypriot religious sites,” the statement continued.
A total of 13 Orthodox Churches attended the Moscow conference, where 70 speakers presented the latest trends in the Russian religious tourism market.
Mesaoria Bishop Gregorios was among the main speakers at the conference, where he presented the CTO guide on religious tours on offer in Cyprus, which is also available in Russian.
The CTO has organised a number of religious tours, including tours of Limassol and Larnaca district, as well as tours of the western and eastern areas of the island. Although most tours feature Christian Orthodox monuments, some include tours of Muslim sites.
For example, the tour of the east of the island includes a stop at the Hala Sultan Tekke near the Larnaca salt lake, considered to be among the most holy sites in the Sunni Muslim world.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.