‘Cheap and nasty’ image will be hard to shake

Sir,

Once again the drop in tourist numbers is a topic in the Mail. In your article last Sunday, the spokesman of the Cyprus Hotel Association in Limassol, Andreas Kapetanios, blames road works and construction for a drop of a quarter in tourists from UK.

I suggest the problem is much deeper. I have been visiting Cyprus (though not as a tourist) for over 20 years and can compare it with other tourist destinations.

First, Cyprus has unfortunately aimed for, and acquired, the cheap end of the market. One only has to look at the type of British tourist wandering in shorts in city commercial areas, and hear their language, to see the problem! This has dissuaded many other tourists with more money to spend.

Secondly, sadly but true, Cyprus has lost its “Greekness”. Compare it with Crete, where restaurants have Greek names and signs are in the Greek alphabet. In Limassol, the endless tourist “strip” has names more reminiscent of Tottenham Court Road than the Mediterranean. On a recent visit to Limassol, we had to hunt for a bar that actually had Cypriots to serve customers. To be blunt, if I want to be surrounded by Eastern Europeans, I can go to Bulgaria much more cheaply.

Thirdly, in the case of Paphos and Limassol, the beaches are poor. Most hotels have a small artificial beach, often with rocks just under the water surface, and the less said of the municipal beaches the better. This compares badly with the miles of golden sand of many resorts in Spain.

I fear it may be very difficult indeed to change the infrastructure and the image of Cyprus as “cheap and nasty”. A pity, because it could offer so much if only it aimed more upmarket.
David Chown

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.