The illegal tourist and economic growth in the occupied territories was the major issue of discussion of the House Commerce Committee on Thursday, which denounced the decision of Cheri Blair, wife of the British Premier, Tony Blair, to support the T/C regime for the sack of the G/C properties. Chairman of the Committee, Lefteris Christoforou said that the Committee will express its anger to the British Higher Commissioner in Cyprus.

Efforts to improve tourist product

At the session, a Commerce Ministry representative referred to the T/C efforts to improve the tourist product. “In the next two years, the T/C regime indents to double the number of beds from 12,250 to 25,000”, he said.

According to T/C press reports, two new hotels are expected to operate in occupied Vokolida this summer (2,000 beds).

Overnight stays

The representative also referred to latest data on the G/C overnight stays in the occupied areas in 2004. Specifically, “in 2004, 2,848 G/C stayed overnight in the occupied territories, while overnight stays reached 6,346. We believe that there has been a slight increase in 2005”.

On the other hand, members of the Committee expressed their concerns on the fact that 95% of this improvement is illegal, violating the G/C properties. “We believe that there should be an initiative to curb this development, which is at the expense of the G/C legal holders and beneficiaries”, Mr. Christoforou said.

The session was also attended by the Real Estates Agents Association, which reported that there are several illegal real estate offices that have dealings with the occupied territories.