Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and economic assets of land, landscape and
property, the packaging and representation of
cultural heritage for tourist consumption, envi-
ronmental protection and the regulation of con-
struction - all problematic areas in any tourism
development context - remain the hot topics of
the Cyprus dispute, to which the Annan Plan
was unable to provide a satisfactory resolution.
Tourism development in Cyprus thus has enor-
mous symbolic, as well as economic, social and
political significance.
In this chapter we explore the place of tour-
ism in the current arrangements for Cyprus'
membership of the EU, looking at the impact of
enlargement on tourism, but also on the part
tourism is playing in both helping and hindering
progress towards agreement and the process of
'Europeanization'. We start with a brief survey
of tourism development on the island and a com-
parison of the tourism industry north and south.
Following sections summarize the provisions of
the 'Green Line Regulation' and its impact on
cross-border traffic and cooperation. In subse-
quent sections we consider the current legal
impasse over ownership and investment in land
and property in the north, and attempts to
achieve EU standards of environmental protec-
tion in the teeth of a construction boom driven
by a strategy of confronting uncertainty by
creating 'facts on the ground'. Information was
gathered by interviewing individuals and repre-
sentatives of professional associations in the
tourism industry, a survey of secondary sources
such as newspapers and statistics gathered by
government bodies, and participation in urban
and environmental planning processes in
Northern Cyprus. The data presented here
represents the most recent information available
in July 2005.
(Scott, 2000). Tourist arrivals to the north are
low compared to those for the south, and the
north remains heavily dependent on the Turkish
market, which makes up approximately 80% of
try, by contrast, has been subject to the full force
of globalization, and has derived substantial eco-
nomic benefit from it. Tourism revenues gen-
erated by the stays of 2.1m tourists in 1995
amounted to CY£810m (US$1.62bn) or 40.1%
of total export receipts, with more than 10% of
employment provided by the hotel and restau-
rant sector, making tourism the 'chief earner of
foreign exchange and the economy's driving
force' (Ioannides and Apostolopoulos, 1999,
p. 52; Sönmez and Apostolopoulos, 2000). More
recently, however, attention has also been drawn
to some of the problems and costs of tourism's
rapid growth in the south. Whilst research in the
mid-1990s suggested that local residents (both
north and south of the Green Line dividing the
island) were on the whole prepared to pay a
social and environmental price for tourism-led
prosperity (Aki
s
, Peristianis and Warner, 1996),
uncontrolled coastal strip development, pres-
sure on scarce water resources, congestion
and noise pollution arguably made Southern
Cyprus less attractive to tourists (Ioannides and
Apostolopoulos, 1999; Ioannides and Holcomb,
2001). Further, by the year 2000, 20-30% of all
tourism in the south was controlled by a single
tour operator, Thomson-Preussag (Bianchi,
2001), and the traditional sun, sea and sand
product was facing problems of over-capacity
and declining per capita spending by tourists.
Tourist arrivals in 2003 were 4.76% down on
the previous year, with average expenditure per
the labour force directly employed in tourism
has risen to 13%.
The north's dependence on the Turkish
market is paralleled in the south by the domi-
nance of the UK market, which has formed a
growing proportion of the total number of tour-
ist arrivals for more than a decade. The popu-
larity of Cyprus as a British holiday destination
builds on the long-standing relations between
the UK and its former colony. From driving on
the left, to the style of post boxes, colonial build-
ings, and stone drinking troughs dedicated to
Elizabeth II and dating from her coronation year
of 1953, there is much about the landscape of
Tourism in a Divided Island:
1974-2004
After the division of the island in 1974, follow-
ing a coup engineered by the junta in Greece
and decisive military intervention by Turkey, the
north of Cyprus became relatively isolated
from the rest of the world as a result of compre-
hensive diplomatic, economic and cultural boy-
cotts. Attempts to develop its tourism languished
