Cyprus sings Tourist Agreement with China

Forty eight million (48,000,000) Chinese travelled outside Chine last year . This is the data the minister of Tourism of Cyprus announced on the Cypriot radio stations. During his trip to China, Mr. Antonis Paschalides had as objective of reinforcing the trade and tourism links between the Asian Goliath and the Mediterranean David.

During a morning programme of a local radio (if a recall well was in Radio Pafos www.radiopafos.com) Mr. Paschalides clearly stated that his aim was to built strong tourism relationships between China and Cyprus and therefore an agreement was signed.

I must say that I am totally relived, I think that after this visit in China all the hoteliers, incoming agents, restaurateurs, excursion organisers, tour guides (especially the Mandarin speaking ones) and the rest of the tourist sector feel relived. The bankers are tranquil that the tourist sector will pay them back all their loans and they will be able to lend to the sector even more since the Chinese are on their way.

I am sure that the Minister has also agreed with Cyprus Airways to start direct flights to Beijing (inChinese: 北京) and Shanghai ( in Chinese: 上海). I also want to believe that our embassy and consulates in China have made all the adequate arrangements to provide the many thousands, probably millions of Chinese with visas. I am also positive that all the implied governmental departments such as the department of Archaeology have already made all the necessary arrangements to translate the tourist guides in Mandarin and Cantonese as well as the web sites of Cyprus Airways and the CTO.

So the next flourishing business in Cyprus is teaching Chinese to Russian, Polish and Romanian waiters, receptionists and housekeepers.

I am wondering if our chefs are ready to cater for Chinese.

Here is the official site of the Chinese Tourism Office