Enhancing the tourist industry through lighting design: the case of Ayia Napa

Ayia Napa is a tourist resort at the far end of the south coast of the island of Cyprus. It is famous for its sandy beaches and wild night life. Due to rapid development after the Turkish invasion of 1974 almost all of traditional Ayia Napa has been destroyed. The old houses have given way to anonymous buildings and the place has been left without identity. This has a negative effect on the promotion of Ayia Napa as a tourist destination. The general
impression of the public locally and internationally is that Ayia Napa is an ideal destination for foreign tourists who want to enjoy their holidays by participating in
wild parties during the night. The truth is that many families choose Ayia Napa for their holidays too. My research interest is to find a way to show the true face of Ayia Napa through the use of light. A new nightscape for the town will be created. The aim of the research project is the creation of a light plan for Ayia Napa that will
be used as a model for all the tourist areas of the island, starting a new era for the nightscape of Cypriot towns which suffer from visual chaos.