THE CYPRUS Tourism Organisation’s top official in charge of the island’s beaches yesterday accused locals of thinking only of themselves as he launched a stinging attack on the “absolutely unbelievable” way people behave when they are by the sea.
“The situation has got totally out of control,” a frustrated and furious Glafkos Kariolou told state radio.
Kariolou invoked a long list of practices that were, according to him, illegal and totally unacceptable on a beach. He also accused some local authorities of flouting beach regulations when they are the ones supposed to be enforcing them.
“Cars, quad bikes, parties, people playing with rackets, littering, dogs, fighting; all of this is illegal,” he said.
“Are we serious about actually allowing this to happen? I’ve heard reports of dogs defecating all over beaches, people fighting, driving their cars and bikes onto beaches, having a party and just leaving their broken bottles and mess. This is a desperate and incredibly dangerous situation – the only thing that prevails on the beaches is the idea of ‘me’.”
Clarifying his position to the Cyprus Mail later in the day, Kariolou explained that he believed that it was “probably too late to wipe out the problem”, and was resigned to developing a scheme closer to disaster-management in countering the lack of respect for nature and other people’s well-being that is increasingly apparent.
Laws governing beach protection date back to the 1960s and involve two tiers of beach inspectors. Beaches in municipalities are overseen by inspectors from municipal councils, the rest are covered by inspectors from local authorities. There are 54 of these local authorities spread along the coast. Theoretically, the police are supposed to constitute the muscle of the arrangement and should respond to calls from the inspectors in dealing with any miscreants.
“But the problem with this system is that not only are the local authorities or villages responsible for the maintenance of beaches not fulfilling their job, but they are actually the ones breaking the rules,” Kariolou said.
Kariolou said the way people were treating the island’s beaches was like “trying to commit suicide with zeal”.
He also stressed that the problem was not solely lack of respect among the public who use the beaches, but that the negative actions of a few were having a tremendously negative impact on the island’s natural features and with which it promotes itself.
He did not blame tourists for the mess, but said that “we need to change the type of tourism that we are attracting, because it is short-sighted”.
“The CTO needs to change its tactics by drastically reducing its advertising budget to 20 per cent and vastly increasing the money spent on maintaining the island’s natural attractions to 80 per cent.”
The environmental disrespect, he said, was the result of a devastatingly “vicious cycle” in which people see that an area has already been littered and therefore feel like it is almost accepted to follow suit.
“When you or me go to Switzerland or Singapore and see how everything is so clean and that rules are enforced properly, we don’t even think of dropping the slightest piece of rubbish. When people come here, they are at first cautious, but then many see how things are done and feel no problem doing the same. This needs to change.”
