New shop opening hours needed in Paphos tourist areas

PORT AUTHORITY officials and the mayor of Paphos have highlighted the urgent need to specify who is ultimately responsible for Paphos port and also to create a new timetable of permitted shopping hours.

Christos Athinodorou, a member of the board of the port authority in Paphos, also said it was imperative to specify if the harbour area in Kato Paphos was designated as a tourist area or not.

He pointed out that shop owners in the area are paying high rents, and added that the ministry of commerce should solve the current problems, and not leave it up to the businessmen of the area.

He added that he doesn’t agree with shop owners in the centre of Paphos, who are claiming that shops in the harbour are open on Sundays and other public holidays. He said he “wonders where this kind of antagonism comes from” but also pointed out that there have been some meetings between the two parties concerned.

Athinodorou commented on the importance of the government to outline the position of the port authority, as the leading authority in the area. There has been a recent dispute between the CTO and the port authorities, as to who is responsible for the area.

Meanwhile, mayor of Paphos Savvas Vergas said that the local authority is in favour of “implementing a universal tourist timetable of opening hours”.

He stressed that this would not only cover the harbour area, but the wider tourist area of Kato Paphos.

Vergas said that this area receives visitors throughout the day, and therefore it was necessary to have a specific tailor-made schedule of opening and closing hours, to offer the best possible service for local and overseas visitors, as well as supporting the shop owners.

The mayor concluded that the local authority and the port authority would take the same stance to excerpt pressure on the relevant ministry to ensure the necessary changes take place.

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