IF THE government does not take action in the Paphos tourist area now, there will be dire political and economic consequences, hotelier Andreas Constantinou warned yesterday.
A 1.5 kilometre strip of the coastal road on Poseidon Avenue is currently being widened, and work was to have finished by April 30 – the start of the summer season.
But George P. Zachariades, the Limassol-based company working on the project, has had its contract repeatedly extended by the Communication Ministry, Constantinou said.
Now the end date has been set for July 12, a fact that has already led tour operators to inform them that they should “expect massive cancellations”.
Constantinou, a majority shareholder of Constantinou Bros Ltd hotels group and operator of three of the hotels involved, named the Phaethon Hotel, Pioneer Beach Hotel, Paphian Bay Hotel, Cypria Maris Beach Hotel, Ledra Beach Hotel, Athina Beach Hotel and the Aliathon Village as the seven hotels affected by the road works.
He told the Sunday Mail that Olympic Holidays, the TUI Group, Thomas Cook, Sunhouse-Travel and Thomson tour operators had been in contact with the hotels, the Tourism Ministry and Paphos Mayor asking about the extent of the construction work and how long it will last.
The tour operators have warned the hotels that if they are not told the project’s deadline they would take the necessary steps to protect their own reputations. Some said they would “have to stop our business in that area immediately in order to avoid any conflicts with our clients” while another said: “You should then expect massive cancellations.”
Because of this reaction Constantinou said the hoteliers need an end date to the project.
“We have to be able to inform the tour operators, so they in turn can inform their clients. The situation cannot just be left open-ended like this. We’ve tried approaching the Communications Minister but he hasn’t so far responded. Now we’re hearing stories that the contractor has demanded £1,900,000 to have the project complete by July and that if he isn’t paid, the road works will carry on through to October or November.”
Constantinou said that this move would involve at least a 50 per cent drop in clients to the area, and that it would have dire effects on the tourism industry in general.
“The government should think long and hard of the implications,” he said. “The place is a complete mess and looks like the Sahara desert. Our clients are complaining about the noise, the dust, and the fact that it is hazardous entering and leaving the hotels.”
This was an extremely serious matter that was giving the island, particularly Paphos, a bad name, he said.
In an effort to be heard, Constantinou said that on Thursday, in collaboration with the unions SEK and PEO, all the hotels’ employees would stop work for an hour at 11am.
“This demonstration is our way of showing people that the situation cannot go on,” he said, adding that a preliminary look at the figures for the summer season had indicated 250-300 people could lose their jobs.
“Without the business we won’t have the money to pay our employees,” he said, “so unfortunately a large portion of them will have to go.”
This latest blow comes as the industry is struggling to overcome the effects on tourism of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
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.
