This year, Ayia Napa is the weapon of an unprecedented scale phenomenon, denounced with exclusive statements by the mayor Giannos Karousos. Hundreds of people, mostly foreigners, are being hired by local businessmen to engage in a form of harassment that threatens to cause serious problems in the area.
As he mentioned, the new kind of barking that is flourishing this year in Ayia Napa enters the hotels and the tourist complexes, rings the bells and distributes cards and leaflets, for all kinds of service and product. Even the barks are set up like hawks outside hotels and tourist complexes, waiting for the arrival of young tourists to hand out cards, often quarreling with each other, thus resonating with the image of tourist Cyprus, in the eyes of often surprised foreigners. "They get to the point of preaching even the polite ones and carry the tourists' suitcases to their rooms just to unwind them even a little bit to give them the cards they want. We have reached the point of knocking on the doors of hotel rooms and distributing information material for women and cabaret ", said Mr. Karousos to emphasize the big problem faced by the tourist Municipality of Ayia Napa. According to Mr. Karousos, behind The phenomenon seems to be hiding, now, organized situations that have reduced the barking to "financial parastate perhaps hundreds of thousands of euros per year, since those who live outside this system of promotion of goods and services, simply do not have a job and movement in their premises." The most worrying, added the mayor of Ayia Napa, is that due to the extreme and aggressive attitude of these unacceptable "situations" in Ayia Napa, there is not much room for hoteliers and businessmen to resist and keep them away from tourists. The Famagusta Police, he stressed, are doing everything they can, but now the phenomenon has reached such dimensions that it can not be controlled. Extrajudicial fines, he pointed out, are a drop in the ocean for this illegality, which in no way deters those who resort to this illegal activity. The mayor expresses the opinion that the time has come, after the huge dimensions of the phenomenon, to criminalize it, so that with severe punishments to discourage these phenomena and those who profit from their existence. According to the mayor of Agia Napa, there are serious dangers for the tourism of the region and the image of the tourist Cyprus due to the phenomenon. A great example is the case of a large travel agency that last year organized a holiday in Ayia Napa and brought about 15 thousand young people from European countries. Following complaints from many of the organization's customers regarding harassment by barkers, the organization will bring in just eight thousand young people this year and its members already warn that if the phenomenon continues, next year they will think about what to do and if they will continue to operate on the island. and especially in Ayia Napa.Tourists come, but do not spend
According to Ayia Napa Mayor Giannos Caruso, the reduction in tourist arrivals is not as great as some claim, according to Ayia Napa Mayor Giannos Caruso. He estimates that this reduction is around 6-8%, compared to June 2014.
Where the data is really negative, he added, is in the income left by this year's tourists who are very restrained. There is, he continued, a decrease in revenue that is at least around 25% compared to the same period last year. According to the mayor of Ayia Napa, the fact that the main volume of tourists in the region comes from Russia justifies the phenomenon. The hoteliers, he said, were forced by the embargo, which made Russians reluctant to travel for holidays, to lower the holiday package in Cyprus. As a result, several lower-income Russians bought a package. In addition, said Mr. Karousos, the Russians are more restrained in their spending, due to the ruble-euro exchange rate, and only the necessary expenses are sufficient. However, according to the mayor of Ayia Napa, the arrivals of tourists in Ayia Napa July and August will be at satisfactory levels, but no one can certainly predict what their consumer behavior will be and whether the phenomenon of reduced spending on their part will continue in the two main months of the tourist season.Source: FILELEFTHEROS