Cyprus holidays will still have to wait for British holidaymakers in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, it has been revealed. The popular holiday island is planning to reopen the country for tourism from July. However, the invite back will not yet be extended to Britons.
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Cyprus has said it will first allow back citizens from other European countries.
The arrival of tourists to the island will be limited.
Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Tourism Savvas Perdios told the Financial Mirror: “The important thing is that travel agents have Cyprus in mind… there are positive signs from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Nordic countries, Greece, Israel and perhaps the Netherlands.”
Cyprus’ main share of tourists come from both the UK and Russia – but travellers from both will have to wait.
However, the island hopes those key markets will be able to open at a later stage.
“We hope to know in a few weeks when tourists will be able to come from these countries,” said Perdios.
Cyprus’ plans to reopen borders comes as the island has managed to avoid high cases of the deadly coronavirus.
Only 817 cases of the virus have been confirmed.
The low number is thanks to a strict lockdown being introduced early on.
A curfew also banned outdoor activity between 9pm and 6am.
Locals were only permitted to leave their residence if they had a permit.
Those who could not produce one who questioned faced fines of €300 (£261).
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Furthermore, Cyprus banned flights from March 21.
The island is set to see a loss of €1.5billion in income as 60 percent of all holiday bookings will be cancelled.
There is currently a near-complete ban on flights to and from Cyprus until 17 May.
Perdios also said he hoped airlines would launch offers in July.
“We are in constant contact through teleconferences with Hermes Airport, the Ministry of Transport and various airlines to decode their intentions,” he told the Financial Mirror.
What’s more, they will promote the island as a holiday destination from autumn, up until April 2021.
They will encourage domestic tourism as well as international, although the former also accounts for 6 percent of the country’s tourism.
They intend to encourage locals to take short getaways and provide holiday packages to promote this.
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