A LARGE delegation of officials from Cyprus is preparing to travel on an inaugural flight for the second part of Paphos official twinning with Herzliya in Israel in ten days’ time.
Paphos officials are describing the ceremony as historic and a positive step for the town.
Yiannis Anthis, the head of Paphos municipality’s external affairs committee will be part of the delegation, which will travel on Ryanair’s first flight connecting Paphos to Tel Aviv, a new route for the airline.
“We will be on the flight which will depart from Paphos airport on March 28 at 8pm, flying to Tel Aviv and we will return on March 31st,” he told the Cyprus Mail.
He said that the trip is the second part of the official twinning of Paphos and Herzliya, the initial event saw a delegation from Israel visit Paphos in October last year. He said that this is an important step for Paphos municipality and collaboration between the two will mostly focus on tourism and new technologies.
“Herzliya is well established in the field of technologies and considered part of the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Israel. We have a lot to learn and benefit,” he said.
Residents of Herzliya are among the wealthiest in Israel. The first formal meeting aimed at twinning Paphos with Herzliya Israel took place at Paphos town hall in January 2016.
The Israeli market is being actively targeted as part of an ongoing tourism plan to encourage travellers between Paphos and Tel Aviv.
According to the Paphos regional board of tourism encouraging figures from 2016 have shown a steady increase in visitor numbers from Israel. In 2016, Israeli arrivals reached 148,000, ranking it fourth in arrivals in the Cypriot market, an increase of 50 per cent compared with 2015.
Heading up the Paphos delegation is mayor, Phedonas Phedonos, he will be accompanied by four members of the external relations and tourism committee of the municipality and municipal secretary Themis Filipides.
Phedonos said that the policy of Paphos municipality is to look for advances in technology and establish Paphos as the Cyprus centre for new and emerging technologies.
The delegation will also include the undersecretary to the president, Constantinos Petrides, president of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO), Angelos Loizides and head of the Paphos regional board of tourism, Nasos Hadjigeorgiou.
In addition, a delegation from the Paphos chamber of commerce and industry, EVE, will be headed up by Andreas Demitriades.
A large group of businessmen from Paphos, including hoteliers and travel agents will also be part of Paphos team, he added.
“Expenses for the businessmen’s and agents trip and so on will be paid for by them. We are only paying for our flights and are being hosted by Israel,” he said.
In addition, a TV crew from public broadcaster Cybc, will also accompany the delegation.
“Many, many meetings will be taking place during this trip. Obviously, the minister will be holding government level meetings, the CTO will also be taking part in high level meetings.”
Businessmen, hotel owners and tour operators have many contacts in Israel and have also lined up meetings for promotion of Paphos as a tourist destination, he added.
“This is an important trip for all of us, as is apparent from the size and quality of the delegation. This is an exciting time for Paphos.”
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