Tourism is without doubt an industry that provided Limassol the momentum to be the glamorous and cosmopolitan city admired now by foreigners and locals. But this popular destination, did not always had the image it has today, with its luxury hotels and popular coasts.
The images from the 70s, when they the big beach hotels started popping up, show the first steps of Limassol in this direction. The most tragic event in the history of Cyprus, the Turkish invasion, the war, the occupation, the refugees in the summer of 1974 and the loss of major tourist facilities in Kyrenia and Famagusta, inevitably accelerated the progress of the tourism industry in this region.
The sandy beaches, suitable for sunbathing and swimming, soon became an attraction for thousands of tourists. The Limassol district, with a coastline 80 km from Pissouri and Akrotiri to Amathus and Governor’s beach, became the new, favorite summer destination. Although missing the beach bars and most of the hotels currently hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors per year in Limassol, the auspicious signs were already evident in the impressive facilities that were created during the 70s.
In the pictures, the featured hotels are Poseidonia, Amathus in the first years of its operation, as shown at the hotel’s brochure released in tourist agencies and in the black and white picture, as well as around the 1980s (header photo), and The Royal Apollonia.
* NOTE: The tributes of the Project "History of Limassol" present information that has emerged from historical research thus far. Any new data is embedded into the tributes, once it has been confirmed.
