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Deputy Minister of Tourism: Public health top priority, regarding safe countries list

LoveCyprus — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 06:04:52 +0000

Cyprus’ Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios has said that the government is concerned by the fact that Israel has been included into the Category B countries from which tourists can visit Cyprus instead of Category A countries that it was initially included, noting however that what is important is to safeguard everyone’s health and security.

In statements to the media after a meeting he had with AKEL party General Secretary Antros Kyprianou, Perdios said that the categorization of the countries is not based on tourist criteria but on the epidemiological data of the countries. Moreover, he reiterated that this will be a difficult year for tourism.

Countries from which tourists can visit Cyprus, after the country opened its airports that were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have been divided into two categories based on internationally available epidemiological data. As of June 20, persons flying from Category A countries face no restrictions when traveling to Cyprus. People traveling from Category B countries are required to have a PCR test done at the source country, 72 hours prior to travel. The PCR test certificate will be requested prior to aircraft boarding, and should also be displayed at border control at the destination. For travelers from Category B, whose country is unable to make PCR testing widely available to the public, compulsory testing will be required upon arrival at Cyprus airports.

Asked about the fact that Israel has now been included in the Category B countries from the Category A that was initially included, Perdios said that this has caused the government’s concern. “No one knows how temporary this will be, for how many weeks Israel will be in Category B,” he noted.

Perdios stressed the need for the Health Ministry and the epidemiologists to be left to do their work properly, noting that the government`s priority is to safeguard the health and security of everyone, including those who wish to visit Cyprus for holidays.

He noted that surely the market of Israel is very important for Cyprus. “We have been expecting that it would be among the first countries from which tourists would come to Cyprus as of June 20 that the airport will be open for Category A countries. Surely the fact that it is now included in Category B is a setback. Let’s hope that it will not be something very serious that will last for months instead of weeks,” he noted.

Furthermore, Perdios said that there have also been some positive developments, since some more countries have been included in Category A, noting that Switzerland is for example now in this Category while initially it was included in Category B, adding that there has been keen interest from this market during the last weeks.

The Deputy Minister of Tourism noted that everyone must realize that we will take this year step by step and that there can be no predictions for a long period of time. He went on to say that “this year we need to work in order to achieve whatever we can right now despite any changes that may take place.”

Perdios also noted that that domestic tourism also needs to be given a boost, adding that a subsidies scheme is being drafted as regards social tourism and domestic tourism in general.

Category A Countries are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Category B Countries are Israel, Poland and Romania.

Source: CNA

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Cyprus Health Ministry updates Covid19 advice for travellers

LoveCyprus — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 06:52:34 +0000

Cyprus Health Ministry on Monday updated the Covid19 advice for travellers. Cyprus announced its first two cases today, a 25 year old man and a 64 year old man who is an employee at a public hospital in Nicosia.

The travel advice is for people who travelled the last 14 days and show symptoms.

Category 1:
Hubei district China
North Italy
Iran
South Korea
All passengers residing in the above countries or having travelled there, need to be put under medical supervision.

Category 2:

China – all other districts other than Hubei
Central and South Italy
Japan
Hong Kong
Germany
France
Spain
Greece ( Achaia, Elia , Zakynthos districts)

All passengers residing in the above countries or having travelled there, must be put in self isolation for 14 days to avoid close contacts and transports, to take health protection measures and be vigilant on any symptoms.

Category 3:

Switzerland
UK
Netherlands
Sweden
Belgium
Singapore
Greece (all other districts except Achaia, Elia and Zakynthos)

All passengers residing in the above countries or having travelled there need to self monitor and when they show symptoms to immediately contact the health authorities at 1420.

The authorities point out that all passengers who travel to the above countries in the 3 categories, are directed to the nurse’s office at the airports.
The Ministry calls on everyone to follow the directions given and be extra vigilant in case they have any symptoms.

More info at www.pio.gov.cy/coronavirus

Source: CNA

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Travelers to and from Cyprus rise to 5.8 million in 2019

LoveCyprus — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 06:28:07 +0000

Movement of travelers to and from Cyprus reached 5.77 million for the twelve-month period, from January to December 2019, marking an increase of 4.4% year on year.

According to data released by the Statistical Service of the Republic of Cyprus (Cystat), arrivals of travelers in 2019 totaled 5,777,029 compared to 5,535,797 in the corresponding period of 2018.

Tourist arrival rose by 1.0% year on year while Cypriots traveling back increased by 9.2%, Cystat added.

According to Cystat, traveler’s movement for December 2019 reached 273,714 compared to 234,214 in December 2018, recording an increase of 16.9%, mainly due to the return of Cypriots which rose by 18.4% as well as to the arrivals of tourists with 3.5%.

Source: CNA

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