By Jennie Matthew
Tour operators have rubbished claims they are promoting oral sex contests, drink and drugs to overseas tourists, despite bar owners saying the agents threatened to take business elsewhere if such heady entertainment was not on offer.
“Although we haven’t heard anything, if it’s going on then it’s deplorable. The authorities need to take a closer look and perhaps hold a conference to promote viable ways to sustain tourism and not just an isolated impression of the area,” Yiannis Efthimiou, executive director of the Association of Greek Cypriot Travel Agents told Cyprus Mail.
In Thomson’s Summer Sun brochure, the description of Ayia Napa hardly raises an eyebrow. “[It is] a friendly resort that delights young sun worshippers and sports enthusiasts. It’s a fun often noisy resort thanks to umpteen bars and karaokes.”
Alan Flook of the Federation of Travel Agents in the UK said he had never seen anything untoward in travel brochures, which “have not changed for years”.
“The tourists come in here with their local tour rep and it is the reps that organise the games. They are not run by us. It is them,” one Napa bar manager said.
The spat has broken out after Politis newspaper splashed out on the wild behaviour of the resort on Tuesday, showing explicit photographs of holiday revelers.
Although the tourism industry yesterday refused to admit to sleezy marketing campaigns, fears remain that other tourists, particularly families, will drift elsewhere, turning the town into a sex ghetto.
But Ayia Napa has attracted considerable publicity elsewhere; in television documentaries, press reports and some 2,800 websites, which spell out the less savoury and wilder aspects of the resort.
The Kool Club website alone is somewhat euphemistic. “Sexy girls and happy guys having a great time. That’s what holidays are all about,” it writes. And tour operators can only reap the benefit.
“Yes they advertise the night-life, but not in the way sex in Thailand can be advertised. It’s something that everyone’s known about for years. It’s not something new. At 4 am you can see people having sex outside any hotel, ” said one hotelier.
“I don’t think Ayia Napa is any different from any other town in the world. It is not different from the behaviour of Bill Clinton, or the boss who gropes his secretary in an ordinary office in an ordinary town,” said Anglican vicar and resident Robin Brookes.
Police were furious at suggestions made by the press that policing was inadequate in the area. Although the statistics may prove the force’s workload, they also prop up fears about the town’s disintegration. Complaints about loud music are already up 31 per cent on last year, bumping the number up from 353 to 498. Traffic offences are up nearly 100 per cent from 2,700 to 5,000. Police officer Paris Tsiettas refused to comment about drugs offences.
For the moment, chairman of the Hoteliers Association, Zacharias Ioannides, insists there isn’t a problem. “There is clear separation and segmentation of the clubbing scene from the family scene. Both can enjoy the same area at different times of the day and night,” he told Cyprus Mail.
But others are very worried about the future of quality tourism in Napa (namely richer visitors and law abiding families) – the very people that Tourism Minister Nicos Rolandis has been so desperate to lure to the island.
And that could spell doom for the resort. “Capacity will not be filled by the clubbing market alone,” said industry expert Efthimiou.
The average age of the Napa tripper is falling to between 20 and 22. They have less disposable income and stay in holiday apartments, rather than luxury hotels. The four star Olympic Hotel yesterday admitted that trade has already slackened thanks to explicit publicity.
Andreas Paedis, Operations Manager at the Aeneas Hotel also expressed long- term fears about the future. Although the hotel has been consistently fully booked, he pointed out the recent migration of much of the family market to Paphos.
Staff at the Dome Hotel may have been more optimistic, but located 4 km out of town they offer a different product.
“Its quiet and away from the centre, with the beach and our good facilities many of our guests come back again,” said assistant manager Stathis Constantinou.
