Download (28Mb) - LSE Theses Online

área, Varosha, was fenced off by the Turkish Army in 1974 and remains derelict
today 58 . A total of 47 hotels remain in closed military areas, 40 in the Famagusta
district and 7 in the Kyrenia district. Of the rest, one has become a hotel school,
another is used by United Nations Forces, three have become Turkish Security
Forces Officer's Clubs, another two are used by the Turkish Retired Officers'
Association (TESUD). Two hotels on the fringes of the fenced area have become
student halls of residence and at least another two are used by the military as
accommodation blocks. Another hotel, formerly the Dolphin in Kyrenia, is
currently (1995) used as a Military Hospital. 59
Seemingly the Turkish-Cypriot authorities and their Turkish advisors had other
priorities when planning the development of a región with an extensive abandoned
tourist infrastructure. Initially tourism seemed to have a low priority, though
external constraints may have played a part in the formation of public and private
strategies. Transport problems, shortages of capital and skill shortages may have
played a part in the regime's decisión to concéntrate on agriculture. Property rights
again remained a problem, with even newer incentives constrained by the issue of
renewable annual leases on "state" land rented to hotel operators. Bottle necks
affecting international communications, information and the marketing of the
región, mostly deriving from its lack of diplomatic recognition and the power of the
Greek lobby within the wholesale travel market, have increased costs and limited
the availability and diversity of access routes for international tourists. The Republic
of Cyprus has declared all points of access to the región other than the UN
58 0ther than four hotels on the fringes of the area, one of wliich, the Palm Beach, was taken over by
Polly Peck, two were converted into EMU student halls of residence and another became a Turkish
Army Officer's Club. Within the fenced area, as mentioned in a footnote above, the Golden Sands
and the Sandy Beach Hotels are being used by the Turkish military.
59 Much of the details relating to current uses of tourist infrastructure relies on information deriving
from a conference on tourism, "Don't Kill the Goose: Tourist Destination Development"
Conference, 30/5 to 1/4/ 1995, Girne American University, Kyrenia, particularly a table presented
by Douglas Lockhart which subsequently appeared as Table 9.2, p.164 in Lockhart 1997, op. cit.
197