Cyprus-Forum.com

[zan]

Artillery range near hotel scaring tourists
By Ares Christou

THE ASSOCIATION of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises (STEK) yesterday warned that the presence of National Guard firing ranges near luxury hotels was damaging the island’s tourist industry.

Commenting on three-day artillery exercises at Alaminos, near the Aldiana Hotel in the Larnaca district, STEK said it was disgusted that the Defence Ministry could not recognise the damage that was being done to the industry from these practices.

STEK said it was impossible for tourist resorts to function near areas where artillery exercises take place. It said that since this particular luxury hotel resort began functioning “lawfully and with the state’s blessings”, it was logical that everyone would want the resort to function in a peaceful environment and with the highest possible success which benefits not only clients but investors, the tourist industry and the economy of Cyprus in general.

STEK said it could not understand why the Defence Ministry and the National Guard chiefs could not understand such simple logic.

It warned that any repetition of the artillery’s tests would cause further destruction to the tourism industry and “seriously endanger the credibility and good name that Cyprus has fought hard to achieve in the tourism field”.

“During recent years the state has spent millions of pounds to publicise internationally and it would be a true loss for all this to go up in smoke due to the lack of correct artillery management and training,” it said.

When asked to comment on the issue yesterday, Defence Minister Koullis Mavronicolas said that the National Guard needed these particular training grounds.

“The Ministry has neither the luxury nor the right to shut down any training field,” he said, adding that the National Guard always tried to do its best to see to it that their training is done without causing any serious problems to the public.

He made it clear that the training grounds existed long before the resort in question began functioning and requested that anyone involved with the resort should be realistic and take their own measures.
??

[Eric dayi]

I read today that there are 100,000 tourist beds in South Cyprus, that's a lot of hotels. Maybe there is no other land left for the National Guard to practice in.

I just hope the Artillery hit their intended target and nothing goes wrong.