Beach services in Cyprus

It is interesting to record how public beaches are exploited by different municipalities and other local authorities in Cyprus. Beach service in Cyprus has so far been limited to providing beach umbrellas and beds. You might think how much is this worth. We can assure you that, depending on the quality and extent of the beach, it can reach 1 million euros. pa by area. The recent example in the Paralimni area where the beach collectors (City Hall employees) reported only half of what they are actually collecting, by replacing them, the income increased by € 400,000! and this for a season of 3 months, not to mention other areas for the use of the beach, by locals and tourists who have a season of more than 5-6 months. The money is big, dear readers, and Troika has suggested to us (Cyprus) to go out to tender for the beach facilities. However, the House with our objectionable MPs rejected this, prompting Troika to ask “how strong are the existing beach operators in this country?”

The town that has made the most of this beach exploitation is Limassol. Along the promenade, there are several beach kiosks that, although they began only as kiosk-cafeterias, have become beach bars and restaurants, with significant income for the municipality. However, the Larnaca Municipality placed a kiosk on lines similar to Limassol in the Phoenicoudes beach area, prompting the District Office to seek a demolition permit (Larnaca Mayor still wonders why the difference).

A well-organized beach has a direct relationship with property / house prices, as you can enjoy the beach that is expected to be cleaned with facilities such as restrooms, lifeguards, parking, etc. A place where the whole family can safely enjoy the calm and clean sea of ​​Cyprus.

Going back to Paralimni, in our estimation, it is the only municipality that seems to be organized in this. Each small sandy bay has toilet facilities and nearby parking. The beaches are cleaned every afternoon and it is the only municipality that provides enough garbage containers to accommodate visitors (most public beaches do not have or do not have enough, causing people to place their garbage around the containers garbage at best). Because the service brings demand, it is quite strange that the extensive Polis-Latchi beach has been limited to these facilities, not to Paphos or other towns to a large extent.

In countries like Greece, the beaches are operated mainly by hotels, based on fixed rates for goods and which provide, through a mobile kiosk, all kinds of drinks, including alcohol, sandwiches, etc. An innovative hotelier in Mykonos, who is operating a beach, in addition to the beds and umbrellas, has installed walkie-talkies at intervals, so that one can order while relaxing on the beach whatever they want. To our surprise, most of the (foreign) occupants ordered Champaign, which comes with a bucket full of ice, an umbrella cover, and a stand. Call it a show, call it a convenience, there weren’t enough waiters for everyone!

Good, serviced beaches are the ones we often see on our TVs at US resorts and others, but there is a lot of beach and other business for these types of facilities. Coming back to Mykonos near a serviced beach around a bay, there is a luxurious development of holiday homes, which a proud Dutch resident told us, “the beach service / facilities is all the money we spent to buy the property “. Of course, there must be customer service on some beaches, including Cyprus, organization regulations and facilities (which we can copy from other countries) to make it work for the benefit of all. Our Dutch friend from Myconos added that “we paid for this house 1½ thousand less, he added. Night parties are a problem and Psarou beach (Mykonos) is not for us with night parties and live disco. Lovely if you have up to 40 years and the small units near this beach are in high demand for sale at € 5,000 / m2 !! He explained that the entertainment on the beach is part of the local culture that the local authorities are in the band’s car and in they actually turn rocky beaches into bays of artificial sand to meet demand (and revenue from the Authorities).

You may recall that in last week’s article we referred to the innovative Cypriot idea of ​​the container shell on the beach. This time we come up with another idea, but this time the money involved is so much that we doubt that the existing “beach mafia group” in Cyprus will allow it.