Cyprus to cover costs of infected tourists as it re-opens airports, UK, Russia, not on first waves

Groups of Israeli passengers arrived in Cyprus on Tuesday (June 9) as the island re-opened its airports to travelers after almost three months of lockdown.

"I come for vacation, for two weeks, three weeks, I don't know. I miss Cyprus," said Israeli visitor Joseph Amkri, 50, who walked past a thermal camera set up for incoming passengers.

Heavily reliant on tourism, the country's Deputy Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios said arrivals would be down 70 percent this year compared to 2019 due to the lockdown.

Months have already been lost for a tourism season that begins in March and will not be in full swing until July, he said, especially with major markets such as the United Kingdom not in the first waves of arrivals.

"Our main markets like the UK, Russia and Sweden...they will probably be available towards the end of July so there is losses to be made in terms of that," he told Reuters.

Cyprus has split arrivals into three categories based on how countries handled the virus, said Perdios, with the first category including travelers from countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Israel and Greece. Britain, Ireland and Russia, are in the third category of arrivals, and were not expected to be allowed to arrive before mid July at the earliest. The categories would be re-evaluated on a weekly basis, he said.

As an incentive to travel, Cyprus will cover the costs incurred by a visitor who tests positive for COVID-19 while on the island, as well as family members who will have to be isolated, and even provide entertainment. Cyprus has set aside 300 rooms in hotels to quarantine any cases.

"When people start getting into the mood of booking a holiday these questions are going to pop up: "What's going to happen if I see symptoms when I go there? What happens if I am tested randomly at a destination and I test positive? Whose going to cover that cost? Is my insurance going to cover it? The answer is no. Am I going to have to pay more to stay on the island? So all these questions we think are negative factors in the decision making process so we wanted to take that out of the equation and create peace of mind," said Perdios.

Cyprus will cover the cost of accommodation, food, and drink, said Perdios, if people have to be isolated, and even provide them entertainment, perhaps by staging a concert they can watch from the balcony.

 

The white sands of Ayia Napa's Nissi Beach are normally packed with sunseekers, but they were almost empty on Tuesday. "It's the first time I've seen the beach this empty at this time of year," said lifeguard Xenios Charalambous.

 

 

 

REUTERS