Cypriot Deputy Minister, Costas Koumis has proposed joint tourist packages between Saudi Arabia and Cyprus, focusing on the Saudi City of Neom which lies about two hours from Cyprus.

His comments were made during a round table discussion in Riad, Saudi Arabia, in the context of the WTO informal Summit on the occasion of the World Tourism Day.

According a press release issued by the Deputy Ministry, during his stay in the Saudi capital, Koumis held separate contacts with the WTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikasvhili, Deputy Minister for International Relations of the Saudi Ministry of Tourism Sultan Al. Musallam, Israel’s Minister of Tourism Haim Katz and the Maltese Minister of Tourism Clayton Bartolo.

He also met with other national representatives and private stakeholders, as well as the Saudi Chamber President Al – Ajlan.

Speaking during a round table discussion on the cooperation between the public and the private sector, Koumis highlighted that the collaboration between the public and the private sector is unavoidable, extremely important and if exercised properly will yield multiple benefits.

The public sector is responsible for constructing and maintaining the necessary infrastructure, securing quality in the offered services and promoting the tourist destination, whereas the private sector is to carry out investments, assume initiatives that always entail a relative risk.

The cooperation between the public and the private sector is not always easy but we cannot have a competitive product and competitive services without it, he stressed while he also cited the benefits stemming from collaborations between countries in the field of tourism.