Thirsty Cyprus looks to golf to rescue industry

Cyprus turns into near desert in the summer and is counting on desalination to provide green fairways for golfers and save the country's troubled tourism industry.

But environmentalists fear the impact of building a dozen more desalination plants to enable the number of golf courses on the island to multiply from three to 17.

To cope with serious drought - which saw Cyprus reservoirs dry up this year - the eastern Mediterranean island is one of the main producers of desalinated water in Europe alongside Italy and Spain.

"The golf courses project is out of order! The aim is not to serve Cypriot tourism but business development and developers," protested Costas Papastavros, an Agriculture and Natural Resources Ministry official.

"And in order to serve this development we need a hell of a lot of extra water, and the energy," he said at a climate change conference in Nicosia.

The government says "there will be a desalination plant for each golf course and that they will request renewable sources of energy. But there is a gap between the theory and the practice," said Mr Papastavros.

He calculated that about 30 million cubic metres of water will be needed for the golf courses, compared to the population's annual needs of 85 million cubic metres of drinking water.

For the past year, with reservoirs turned into parched dirt bowls during the summer by low rainfall, water to households has been rationed, with the mains supply running only three half-days a week.

But the left-wing government of President Demetris Christofias is pressing ahead with the golf courses rescue plan which was initiated by the previous administration, and the Cabinet voted to pass the project in December.

Cyprus counts on revenues from its tourism sector, under threat from the global economic crisis, for 15 per cent of its gross domestic product.

The global credit squeeze in recession-hit Europe is blamed for the slump in the local tourism market, with arrivals down 14.2 per cent for the first two months of this year.

"Bookings for this year are coming in slowly and there is a decrease in numbers compared to the same period last year," said Tourism Minister Antonis Paschalides, adding that last year was also a difficult year for Cyprus.

Hotel bookings are said to be around 25 per cent down for this summer, with the government expecting an overall 10 per cent drop in arrivals by the end of the year.

Mr Paschalides said golf courses would allow Cyprus to win new markets and to extend the tourism season from the traditional summertime of sun, sea and sand.

"The water quantity needed for the irrigation of the golf courses will be produced by desalination units which will be working with renewable sources of energy," he said.