Why we love Ayia Napa (and we don’t go clubbing)

Sir,

I read (‘Ayia Napa complains of funding snub’) that Ayia Napa is losing out on funding from the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, amid suggestions that this has to do with the resort’s “unsavoury” reputation. My husband and I are both 52 and have been coming to Ayia Napa every year since 1996. Admittedly, one year was particularly noisy at night when we were trying to sleep, but that was probably our own fault for choosing where we chose to stay in August.

We love the people and have made several good (Cypriot) friends over the years, in our favourite restaurants, local supermarket, on the beach and in the bars. Even though we have travelled all over the island there is nowhere else we would rather stay, even in August.

Yes, we have witnessed the odd argument and once a fight, but certainly much less than occurs in our local rural Derbyshire town over the weekend, and we are sure that anyone, including families and older people, can have a wonderful time in Ayia Napa, as there are plenty of places to get away from the younger visitors if necessary.
We feel the only reason Ayia Napa has an “unsavoury” reputation is because of grossly exaggerated reporting, especially on television.

One particular example was a programme about a ‘booze cruise’ during which the teen/twenty somethings were plied with as much alcohol as they could drink, and encouraged to pick a random partner with whom to perform disgusting acts while being filmed. I thought I was broad-minded, but that programme made me sick. Anyone seeing it who hadn’t been to Ayia Napa would think that sort of thing goes on all the time everywhere and probably never go.

Surely, Ayia Napa only has a bad reputation because some local businesses pander to the media and tolerate bad behaviour because it brings in the money and the publicity. Last year, there seemed to be many more families around and the majority of locals wanted to encourage
this much more.

There is so much in and around Ayia Napa to advertise without even mentioning the clubs and the cheap drinks. Does it have to be advertised any more as a “clubbing mecca”? No.
So, CTO please pay the money, and Ayia Napa Municipality, please use your imagination!

Barabara Newton, Derbyshire, UK

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.