In their written announcement, Messrs. Pyrillis and Karousos state that "we fully understand the CTO's effort to justify the unjustified and to provide support and coverage to its President for the slip in which he fell. However, instead of the Agency dealing with this serious matter and correcting it, it diligently tries to overcome it as if it never happened, justifying that the President of the CTO referred to arrivals and not overnight stays, which is also wrong since arrivals on first is the Province of Famagusta ".
The announcement states that the two Mayors in their written announcement the day before yesterday referred "to the first of our province in both arrivals and overnight stays, a fact which is confirmed by the official statistics, which are published on the CTO website and are the proof that the Famagusta province is first in arrivals and overnight stays ".
The Mayors of Paralimni and Ayia Napa fully agree with the position of the Organization that "at a time when our tourism is setting historical records, cooperation and coordination between all agencies is the key to continuous progress and development of the sector." However, this collective effort does not provide slips like that of the President of the CTO, nor should it be unilateral and selective ".
The fact that there are many statistical analyzes, correlations and combinations is self-evident for a sector such as tourism, the statement said. in both 2013 and 2014 and the first half of 2015 ".
According to the statistics of the Statistical Service, "in 2013 the arrivals in licensed accommodation were for the Province of Famagusta 944,224 and for Paphos 754,742. Regarding the arrivals of non-Cypriots, it was 853,564 for Famagusta and 615,444 for Paphos. The overnight stays in the same year were 6,555,628 for Famagusta and 4,680,288 for Paphos ".
The announcement also states that "in 2014 the arrivals in licensed accommodation were for the Province of Famagusta 904,817 and for Paphos 761,305. Regarding the arrivals of non-Cypriots, it was 816,737 for Famagusta and 628,422 for Paphos. The overnight stays in the same year were 6,443,525 for Famagusta and 4,441,930 for Paphos ".
Regarding the first half of 2015, the static data show that "arrivals in licensed accommodation were for the Province of Famagusta 286,761 and for Paphos 279.845. Regarding the arrivals of non-Cypriots, it was 252,199 for Famagusta and 229,940 for Paphos. The overnight stays for the first half of 2015 were 1,781,443 for Famagusta and 1,622,634 for Paphos ".
According to the written announcement, "after all this unshakable data coming from the CTO based on data from the Statistical Service and the Organization itself, we expect that disciplinary responsibilities should be sought for misleading public opinion."
The Province of Famagusta, concludes the announcement of the Mayors of Paralimni and Ayia Napa, "is the first tourist Province of Cyprus. No other process can overturn this, whether some people want it or not. "It's time for some to stop fighting in the province of Famagusta."
Source: CITIZEN