The involvement of ecclesiastical, tourist and academic institutions of Paphos with religious tourism in recent years, as well as the participation of the province in European programs for this subject, creates the well-founded expectations that it will soon be able to establish Paphos as a destination for religious tourism at an international level.
Expectations are growing and becoming more well-founded after the publication of the imminent transition of the Archbishop of Cyprus to the Vatican, the contacts he will have with Pope Leo 14 and the expected agreement for the arrival in Paphos of the holy skull of the Apostle Paul. A historic development, given that for the first time the skull of the Saint will come out of the Vatican and will be exhibited on pilgrimage to Paphos, an event that is determined around October of this year.
These important events of the coming months are estimated to be the cause of an explosion of interest in religious and sightseeing tourism in Cyprus and especially in Paphos, where the Apostle Paul taught, putting the region on the map of world religious tourism for good.
Tourism agencies of the province stressed that in this hopeful scenario that is being created, it is of great importance to continue the activity of Paphos on an organized basis in the corresponding European programs. These European programs, they said, aim to develop and promote policies and products related to religious, spiritual and pilgrimage tourism in various destinations in Europe, with a view to sustainability, digitalization, innovation and resilience.
These are actions and areas in which Paphos has already made significant progress in recent years, they pointed out, which they estimate puts the destination in an advantageous position for the implementation of its targeting. Some of these actions, they concluded, are related to the effort made by Paphos so that the route in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul is registered with the Council of Europe.
In all these actions, they concluded, the political-religious movements with the meeting of George of Cyprus with the Pope at the Vatican and the historic transfer of the holy skull of the Apostle Paul to Paphos, will be the crown of the attempted recognition of Paphos as a religious destination for thousands of believers from every corner of Europe and beyond.
