The Larnaca Regional Tourism Board (Etap) and the Larnaca Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Evel) on Friday called for significant improvements to public transport services in the district’s mountainous regions.
They also said that the Transport Ministry has an obligation to support these areas.
In a joint statement, the two bodies explained that they participated in a meeting with Lefkara mayor Sophocles Sophocleous, and deputy mayor Efthymios Strouthos.
The meeting involved a discussion of the various issues concerning the tourist and business development of Lefkara.
One of the main issues raised was “the lack of connectivity of Lefkara and, in general, mountainous Larnaca, with the city centre and the tourist area, through public transport”.
The two bodies and the local authority expressed “their strong dissatisfaction with the recent negative response they received from the Transport Ministry, and previously from the urban transport company Larnaca Public Transport”.
“Unfortunately”, they added, “the ministry in question was unable to provide a solution to this long-standing problem, citing a lack of available resources, such as drivers and buses”.
“However”, the announcement continued, “it is striking that on some routes there is a phenomenon of buses running almost empty, while at the same time, there are routes with high demand that remain inadequately serviced”.
“It is inconceivable that there is no possibility of access to the villages of mountainous Larnaca by public transport, depriving both tourists and locals of the opportunity to visit major tourist destinations in Cyprus,” the two bodies said.
Moreover, the statement said that “Lefkara has been awarded by the World Tourism Organisation as one of the most beautiful villages in the world”.
They also stressed that the Transport Ministry “must recognise the importance of strengthening connectivity, as the development of the countryside is inextricably linked to the improvement of public transport, which benefits not only citizens but also visitors”.
“This is the least the ministry can do to support the mountainous regions of Larnaca,” Evel and Etap Larnaca concluded.
