Covid-19: Cyprus opens its borders to vaccinated tourists

A tourist walks down a deserted street in the old part of the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, April 26, 2021. The island has just emerged from strict two-week containment after an explosion of Covid cases.

AFP - IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

As of Monday, the Mediterranean island of Cyprus reopens its borders to vaccinated tourists from 65 countries.

They will no longer have to respect a quarantine on their arrival.

A relief for this country whose tourism represents 21% of the country's wealth.

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If you are vaccinated, you can now travel to Cyprus without taking a Covid test.

You simply have to download the proof of vaccination on a digital platform.

The goal: to encourage the return of tourists, as explained by Savvios Perdios, Deputy Minister of Tourism. 

“

 Now that more and more countries are lifting travel restrictions, we are seeing renewed interest from tourists,

” he says. 

The flights are starting to return.

We are positioning ourselves as an epidemic safe country where everything is open.

I think a lot of tourists will appreciate this.

 "

A relief for this country very dependent on tourism, whose economy has been decimated by the pandemic and travel restrictions. 

" 

We have lost 85% of income from tourism,"

continues the minister.

It's enormous.

We just want to do better than last year, that's the first goal.

Second

: we want this year to be a bridge between this catastrophic year and 2022, which I believe will be the start of economic recovery. 

"

But it will be necessary to reckon without the British who nevertheless represent a third of tourists because London has excluded Cyprus from its list of safe destinations where its nationals can travel from May 17. 

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Also to listen: The management of the post-coronavirus in the island of Cyprus

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  • Cyprus

  • Tourism

  • Coronavirus