By Bejay Browne.
Beaches in Paphos have become an important source of income for the four municipalities in the Paphos district, which are raking in revenues from sunbed rentals and other seaside operations.
In Paphos, Peyia and Geroskiopou business is booming, while Polis municipality, though at the bottom of the list in terms of income, is still doing well and say the revenues they do get are still important.
In Peyia, local councillor Linda Leblanc told the Paphos Post that last couple of years saw record income from the beaches of around €1m.
“There was a record number of tourists visiting Cyprus so obviously this is reflected in the amounts,” she said.
The cash comes from the rental of beach beds and umbrellas and also from kiosks and beach bars. There are three main organised public beaches in Peyia, the most popular of which is the blue flagged Coral Bay, which attracts thousands of visitors every year.
Leblanc said that income from the beaches was vital to the municipality. “This will support the budget as the government is cutting back on what they are giving to the towns,” she said.
All beaches can be used for free in Cyprus, and municipalities can only charge for equipment. Around 800 to 900 sunbeds are operated by Peyia municipality where 50 per cent of the beach must be left ‘open’ to the public where they may wish to bring their own beach paraphernalia.
The local municipalities are also responsible for beach cleanliness and must also provide toilets, showers and changing areas.
Geroskipou has decided to keep the rental price of beds and umbrellas to a minimum at the beach areas outside the new beach ‘kiosks’, which were created by Psomas Studio of Architecture.
Mayor, Michalis Pavlides, said this was to encourage the public to use the new areas and to ensure that everyone was able to use the facilities.
Each kiosk is around 220 square metres, and 80 square metres of each space consists of toilets, changing rooms and showers. The first is at ‘Riccos’, with the second some 250, and the third, 300 metres further along the beach. In the future, the municipality will add another two kiosks along the stretch, they have already rented the space from the government.
“We have 100 beds at each position (the three kiosks), we didn’t want to put more as we wanted to leave space for the public.”
The rent from the three kiosks which recently went to tender will garner €180,000 for the municipality.
The municipality of Polis Chrysochous is the smallest and has six organised ‘points’ on their coastline in Polis and Latchi, according to mayor Giotis Papachristofi.
“All of them are rented out, it is better for the municipality like this, and is an important source of income for us,” he said.
The cheapest is rented for €7,000 and the most expensive for €27,000. The total brings in €80,000 a year for the municipality. He said that not many people use the public beaches as they do in Paphos and that any real numbers are only seen during August and at weekends.
“La Plage is our busiest beach and thousands of people visit here each year.”
The head of the Paphos municipality beaches committee, Nicos Similides, said that the beach income for Paphos is hugely important. “It comes to around €1.7m a year,” he said.
This is made up of income from sunbeds and umbrellas and licences for water sports companies. The two beaches of Ta Bania and Sodap are operated by the municipality and bring in around €700,000 a year.
