AROUND 170 Israeli couples are heading to Larnaca en mass on June 17 to get married, according to Larnaca Municipality, which may even get Larnaca into the Guinness World Records again.

“Cyprus is either the first or second destination for a civil marriage as far as Israelis go, along with Prague,” said Deputy Head of Mission at the Israeli Embassy, Shani Cooper-Zubida. “It’s very popular for young couples,” she added.

According to Cooper-Zubida one of the main reasons they decide to get married here is because it is close by, as well as the fact that it is cheaper than other EU countries and it is not particularly difficult in terms of the paperwork invoved.

“Couples may want to come for a day or two to get married and then combine it with a vacation,” said Cooper-Zubida.

There has been a steady increase of tourists from Israel since 2006 with figures rising from 34,197 in 2006 to 37,876 in 2010.

Both Lefteris Empedokles, secretary general at Larnaca Municipality and an official in charge of weddings at the Nicosia Municipality, pointed out that the majority of couples are foreign. “I have eight weddings tomorrow, five of which are couples coming over from Lebanon,” said the official from Nicosia Municipality adding that they get a lot of couples from Lebanon.

Empedokles also said that this may get Larnaca into the Guinness World Records again. “It might be classed as a record for simply holding 170 weddings in one day, all at once,” he said. However he reassured that those dealing with the weddings would certainly be applying to see if it can secure a place.

Just last month Larnaca was featured in the Guinness World Records for the largest Greek Dance, where 749 people danced the Hasapiko for five minutes continuously on Phinikoudes.

source: Cyprus mail