The lack of tourism will have a big impact on the finances of the Municipality of Sotira, said the Mayor of Sotira, George Takkas, to KYPE.
In his statements, Mr. Takkas said that “the absence of tourist traffic, due to the coronavirus pandemic, has brought great consequences and changes in the budgets and finances of all Municipalities. Especially for the Municipality of Sotiras, which does not yet have hotel units or other tourist facilities, the consequences are more obvious as its finances depend mainly on the income from the sunbeds on the beaches, but also on civil weddings ".
He added that "it is estimated that the loss of revenue will reach 70%, a percentage which brings chain effects to the general finances of the Municipality and at the same time delays in the start or continuation of various projects planned for implementation."
Answering a relevant question, Georgios Takkas said that “the City Hall has already taken decisions aimed at preventing financial consolidation and avoiding a stalemate. At a recent meeting, the plenary session of the Municipal Council decided to promote changes in the budget for 2020 in order to reduce costs and identify ways in which debts will be collected more immediately.
He explained that “this will be done in such a way that the local authority intervenes, protects but also supports vulnerable groups who are unable to repay their debts immediately. At the same time, the strengthening of the fund that is already operating and in which part of the remuneration of the Mayor and the municipal councilors is paid for the support of the vulnerable groups is being studied ".
Asked about the beaches, the Mayor replied that “the three organized beaches, Agia Thekla, Poseidonas and Sirens will be ready to welcome people on June 1 with the final relaxation of the measures. The Municipality of Sotiras has arranged the placement of lifeguards who have already taken up duties on the beaches ".
Regarding civil weddings, Mr. Takkas said that "there is pessimism for this year in this area. The Minister of Civil Weddings of the Municipality of Sotiras Marinos Pavlikkas and the specific service of the Municipality accept daily requests for the transfer of the already planned weddings for 2021 or even 2022 ”.
However, he continued, "there are couples who keep their reservations for the months of September and October, while expressing their concern about the control conditions that will prevail at the airports and the observance of protocols in hotels and recreation areas. The conditions that will prevail will probably be a deterrent to the organization of a trip from abroad to Cyprus, for the performance of a civil wedding of a couple, which may have a large number of guests ".
He also explained that "despite the fear for this year's tourist season, it seems that most couples do not seem willing to abandon their decision to have their wedding in Cyprus, rescheduling the ceremony for the coming years. This raises optimism for the fact that in 2021, there is expected to be a gradual return of tourists, to the numbers that prevailed until 2019 ".
Mr. Takkas noted "the peculiarity of the Municipality of Sotiras in the issue of attracting wedding tourism, since so far no hotel units are available, while the whole effort to attract wedding tourism depends on the promotional actions of the local authority itself".
Famagusta.News / KYPE