City of Dreams Mediterranean Finally Opened in Cyprus Despite the Union Protest

On Monday, Jul 10, 2023, the long-expected City of Dreams Mediterranean casino finally opened its doors to the customers.

Long-awaited resort

After years of planning and working on the construction, one of the most ambitious projects in Cyprus has finally been completed.

In the first integrated resort in Europe, a huge amount of money was invested. With a total amount spent bigger than €600 million, this resort will be one of the most luxurious places in the country. Cyprus is already a popular tourist destination, but with a new resort, it will enhance its position on the European market, and hopefully become a renowned destination for international business and conference tourism.

The media representatives visited the resort on July 11, in an opening ceremony. Lawrence Ho, a Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Melco Resorts & Entertainment, spoke to them and shared the company’s vision for the future. At this occasion, he commented: “Today marks the start of the most exciting chapter. City of Dreams Mediterranean gives Cyprus a new story to tell by blending local culture, hospitality and beauty with a new form of entertainment and experience.” 

Menelaos Shiacolas, Managing Director of CNS Group said that the opening day is marked in CNS Group’s history. 

The dedicated team for providing a full luxurious experience:

Grant Johnson, Property Manager of City of Dreams Mediterranean, says he’s grateful to the country’s residents for making this whole project possible, and especially thanks his colleagues for their hard work and dedication to the project. 

The new integrated casino resort is actually a fourteen-story hotel. It possesses 500 rooms and suites available to receive the guests, as well as designer-brand stores, various sporting facilities and a phenomenal outdoor amphitheater. There will be a family adventure park, conference and exhibition spaces, and inevitable fantastic casino offering, all followed by various options for fine dining.

The issues with unions:

The project is grand, and the owners are proud of it, with a reason. However, two unions of the resort’s employees aren’t so satisfied with some parts of the process. They recently accused the company of violating the laws written to protect the workers.

The Pancyprian Federation of Labour (Peo) and the Democratic Labour Federation of Cyprus (Deok) accused the company of trying to block all their efforts and prohibiting them from entering the resort.

To express their disappointment, the unions scheduled a protest for July 11, which is the date when the media representatives were present in the resort. However, Deok decided to give up the protest but kept expressing their opinions. In the announcement the union released, they stated that the company needs to realize that “its business activities are conducted on the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, and it should stop behaving like a state within a state.”

Despite Deok’s withdrawal, the protest is held, with Peo as an organizer. The union claimed that they wouldn’t give up until the company allowed them to enter the workplace.