Tour guides outraged as state set to close museums at 4pm
THE CYPRUS Tourist Guides Association has slammed the government’s decision to close museums one day per week and to reduce their opening hours.
From May 1, museums around the island will close on Mondays and will also shut up shop an hour earlier at 4pm.
Spokeswoman for the Association, Sylvia Partelidou, yesterday told the Mail: “This is totally unacceptable and we are very upset. Tourism is the lifeblood of Cyprus and in an effort to save money the government is burning the forest just to save one tree.”
She added that in order to make money from tourism, the government must invest in it, not the other way round.
Partelidou said the government went ahead with the decision without consulting with the Association.
“More and more tourists are now interested in visiting our museums, so the decision just doesn’t make any sense. For years, most of our tourists were mainly interested in sun and sea holidays but that has all changed. Our tourism is currently more cosmopolitan and these people are also interested in our culture and archaeological sites. They cannot find museums closed in the middle of every afternoon.”
According to Partelidou, the authorities should take a leaf out of the north’s book, where all museums remain open until 8pm.
The government hit back at her claims, saying the decision was not taken lightly and was necessary.
The Permanent Secretary of the Communications and Works Ministry explained that the tour guides are upset, “because they want everything open 24 hours a day for their own convenience”.
Makis Constantinides said that all Ministries have been instructed by the Finance Ministry to reduce overtime by 30 per cent “and we must find ways to do this.”
He also said Cyprus was following practices seen in “90 per cent of the rest of Europe, whereby museums are closed every Monday”. The 4pm closing time is almost unheard of elsewhere in the EU.
Another issue brought up by Partelidou was the air conditioning units installed in the museums. “Half of these are not working, meaning people have to deal with extreme heat during the summer and cold weather during the winter,” she said.
“We have written countless letters to the authorities but they have fallen on deaf ears. This is the bureaucracy of Cyprus.”
Constantinides said he was aware of the problem but again, the matter came down to economics. “It is a matter of common sense that if a museum is located in a remote area and does not attract many visitors, it is not financially viable to spend money on air conditioning units.”
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