Cyprus is considered the island of love and Aphrodite and many are the ones who rush to plan their wedding on our island, in front of a beach during sunset.
However, there is another side. Those who live a "forbidden" love and want to find a way out, sealing their love. Al Jazeera reports that Cyprus is an ideal destination for honeymoon tourism, especially among Lebanese, where mixed marriages are prohibited. The news agency makes the best advertisement on our island, presenting Lebanese couples confessing why they chose Cyprus to get married.
Siham and Fares Choifanoi, speaking to the news agency, referred to their family history, saying that their parents did not allow them to marry as they belonged to different religions. Therefore, for them Cyprus was the ideal choice, as it is a nearby destination with relatively easy procedures for civil marriage.
As Professor Ibrahim Taboulsi tells Al Jazeera, the paradox that is happening in Lebanon is this: According to the law, civil marriages that take place abroad are recognized, while this is not allowed in the country!
It should be noted that in Lebanon there are 18 different religious groups with different laws and family law, and mixed marriages are not allowed. It is worth mentioning that wedding tourism is an important special form of tourism for Cyprus, to which the CTO attaches great importance.
In Cyprus, an average of more than 8 thousand ceremonies are performed per year, while this industry offers to the state coffers around 120 million euros per year. First in preference areas are Ayia Napa, Protaras, Sotira and Paphos, Geroskipou, Pegeia. Interest is recorded from the United Kingdom, Lebanon, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, while India, China and Japan are markets with great prospects and efforts are being made by stakeholders to reach them.
The CTO has completed a study to update data and estimates of expected revenue, recognizing the prospects of promoting civil marriage as an alternative form of tourism, and is preparing a new strategy, as the established MarryMeCyprus slogan will be a thing of the past.
Source: Phileleftheros / Dimitra Landou