It is interesting to record how the various municipalities and other local authorities in Cyprus exploit public beaches. The beach service in Cyprus has so far been limited to providing umbrellas and beach beds. You might think how much this is worth: we can assure you that, depending on the quality and extension of the beach, it can reach 1 million euros. not by area. The recent example in the Paralimni area where the beach collectors (employees of the Municipality) were reporting only half of what they are actually collecting, when replaced 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 5-6 months. Money is big dear readers and Troika has suggested to us (Cyprus) to bid for the beach facilities. However, the House with our objectionable MPs rejected this, leading the Troika to ask “how strong are the existing beach operators in this country?”

The town that has taken full advantage of this beach exploitation is Limassol. Along the promenade, there are several beach kiosks that, although they have started as kiosks-cafeterias, have become beach bars and restaurants, with significant income for the Municipality. However, the Larnaca municipality put up a kiosk along similar lines to Limassol in the Phoenicoudes beach area, prompting the district office to seek a demolition permit (the Larnaca mayor still wonders why). the difference).

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

Returning 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 parking nearby. 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, which makes people place their garbage around the containers garbage at best). Because the service brings demand, it is quite strange that the long beach of Polis-Latchi has limited these facilities, nor Paphos and other cities to a great extent.

In countries like Greece, the beaches are mainly operated by hotels, based on fixed rates of goods and providing, 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 ask for whatever he wants while relaxing on the beach. To our surprise, most of the occupants (foreigners) ordered Champaign, which comes with a bucket full of ice, an umbrella cover and a stand. Call it show, call it convenience, there weren’t enough waiters to go around!

Good beaches with services are the ones we usually see on our televisions in resorts in the USA and others, but there is a lot of beach business and others for this type of facility. Back in Mykonos, near a serviced beach around a bay, there is a luxury holiday home development, which, a proud Dutch resident told us, “the beach service/facilities are all the money we spent to buy the property”. Of course there has to be a customer service on some beaches, including Cyprus, the organization and facilities regulations (which we can copy from other countries) so that it works for the benefit of all. Our Dutch friend from Myconos added that “we paid for this house 1½ million euros (!!) and we have attributed ½ million euros to the organized beach. Of course, if you care about other people on the beach, organized beaches can be a minus added.Night parties are a problem and Psarou (Mykonos) beach is not for us with the night parties and live disco.Lovely if you are up to 40 and small units near this beach are in high demand and they sell for €5,000/m2!! He explained to us that entertainment on the beach is part of the local culture that the local authorities are in the bandwagon and actually turn rocky beaches into bays of artificial sand for meet the demand (and the revenue of the authorities) .

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