Cyprus plans to reopen its airports to visitors from all countries on March 1, Deputy Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios told CyBC state television on Wednesday.
“This means that passengers will be able to visit Cyprus without quarantine restrictions, unless they test positive for COVID-19 on arrival,” Perdios said.
Cyprus announced earlier in January that they will lift their travel ban on 56 countries, including:
- EU member states
- European Economic Area States (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Lichtenstein)
- Third countries featured on the EU Council Recommendation document (EU 2020/912 of 30 June 2020, on the temporary restriction on non-essential travel into the EU and the possible lifting of such restriction)
- The United Kingdom, Russia, Israel, Ukraine, Belarus, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Perdios said that each of these countries will be designated colours according to their coronavirus pandemic situation.
Passengers arriving from green category countries will not have to take a Covid-19 test, while those flying in from orange category countries will be obliged to present a negative test certificate before boarding a plane. Passengers arriving from red category countries will have to be tested both before boarding and after arrival.
Perdios preffered not to cite an estimate for tourist arrivals this year, saying only that currently all countries are facing a second or third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It would be difficult for people to travel either now or even in February and March,” he said.
Cyprus’ air connections are currently restricted to only a few countries, mainly Greece, Britain, Russia, Lebanon, Egypt and Gulf states.
