A luxury hotel in northern Cyprus is threatening to sue the singer Jennifer Lopez for pulling out of a concert there.
On her 41st birthday, J-Lo had been due at a gig to mark the opening of the $220 million (£143 million) Cratos Premium Hotel and Casino in Kyrenia on July 24th, but cancelled her appearance citing the ‘political realities’ of the region.
Protesters had called for her to withdraw because the north of the island has been occupied by Turkey since a 1974 invasion which displaced about 200,000 Greek-Cypriots. Turkey has unilaterally claimed sovereignty for the region.
Media reports say she would have been paid $3 million (£1.95 million) for her appearance, but a statement on her website said: “Jennifer Lopez would never knowingly support any state, country, institution or regime that was associated with any form of human rights abuse.”
However, the owners of the luxury hotel and resort say she’s bound by a contract, and if she doesn’t show up, they will start proceedings to recoup $35-40 million (£23-26 million) in damages.
by Andy Moreton
Holiday companies do organise trips to Northern Cyprus, but the region can be accessed only through Turkey. However, Luxique offers the best rates at three fine luxury hotels in the south of the island.
Cyprus has opened an ultra-modern airport that it hopes will boost flagging tourism and revive prospects of it becoming a regional transport hub.
The Cypriot President, Demetris Christofias, opened the new Larnaca terminal, built by a consortium of French and Cypriot companies, at a ceremony attended by 2,000 guests.
“Today serves as a landmark in the history of tourism development and the island’s infrastructure in general,” said Christofias. “This work plays a significant role in upgrading Cyprus as a main transit hub in the coming decades.”
The high-tech terminal is four times larger than its predecessor, which is just a couple of miles away on the island’s south coast. The old terminal was originally built as a makeshift facility in February 1975 after the island’s only airport, in the capital Nicosia, got caught up in no-man’s land as a result of the Turkish invasion eight months earlier.
The new Larnaca airport took three years to build at a cost of 656 million euros (£586 million / $974 million) in what was one of the largest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Cyprus. It now has the capacity to handle passenger traffic of up to 7.5 million people annually with a provision to extend this to nearly 10 million when the need arises.
by Andy Moreton
Luxique can secure you the best rates at three luxury hotels in Cyprus: the Anassa in Polis, the Annabelle in Paphos and the Londa in Limassol.
