Quarter of a million pound investment in opera seats

THE Paphos Aphrodite Festival Cyprus Ltd has spent £228,000 to buy 2,507 collapsible seats with the aim of boosting opera tourism to the island.

The private festival company was established last year, and put on a production of Verdi’s Aida at Paphos Castle in September.

To seat the 1,944 spectators in 1999, the company rented seats at an overall cost of £38,000 – an average outlay of £19.55 per seat.

The performances pulled in an extra 1,850 tourists to Paphos that month.

The Festival Company was so delighted with the success that it plans to host an annual opera festival in Paphos.

Hence the decision to buy the seats, and order an extra 563 compared to last time – at an average outlay of £90.95 per chair.

The seats have been ordered from the UK Alto Seating System Company and will arrive in the summer.

The company is hoping to reimburse their cost by hiring them out to other spectator events in Cyprus.

The seats will be erected on the Paphos harbour, in front of the castle, during the four-day festival, to be held from September 8 to 11. Afterwards they will be dismantled and stored in eight 40-metre boxes for future use.

The Paphos opera festival will be advertised all over the world in a bid to lure European and American tourists to the island.

This year’s production will be of Bizet’s Carmen, performed by the Brussels-based Idée Fixe Company.

Tickets will be available at £35, £25 and £15. For the VIP ticket price, customers will be invited to a cocktail party before the performance.

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