16 couples arrive in our country today, accompanied by 20 Chinese journalists and publishers and 50 more people who are tourist operators and relatives of the couples from Shanghai.

The Region of Crete and ANEK shipping lines will welcome and host the Chinese couples. The young couples and the journalists who accompany them will saty on “ELYROS” ship.

Mr. Charalambos Salvarakis, management consultant of ANEK lines stated in protothema.gr that the welcoming reception for the Chinese guests will be held today at 5 pm on “ELYROS” ship with the presence of Greek Minister of Tourism, Olga Kefalogianni, and the Chinese Ambassador to Greece, Zou Xiaoli.

During the ceremony traditional dance groups will give a performance and Chinese guests will taste dishes of Greek and Cretan cuisine.

The new couples from China will stay in Crete for one week and will visit Chania, Heraklion, Rethymno and Agios Nikolaos and their next stop would be Santorini island.

The wedding ceremony will take place on Friday 25 April at 3.30 pm at the “Koules” fortress and and lyra players and local folk bands will play traditional music.

Last year the “Rose Wedding” of Chinese took place for the first time in Santorini. This initiative was introduced by the Shanghai Tourism Administration and the event will be advertised by the Chinese media throughout the world.

The wedding ceremony as well as all events will be videotaped and the film produced will be screened at the Shanghai Cultural and Tourism event week.

The concept of the “Rose Wedding” started in 2000 from Shanghai and is part of the Shanghai Cultural and Tourism festival aiming to organize large scale weddings as well as to give the chance to Chinese people to discover new destinations every year.

In fact, the Chinese couples have already been married in their country and they travel for their honeymoon in different parts of the world, where they also renew their wedding vows.