Cyprus eyeing March 1 reopening of travel

The Ministry of Transport announced on Wednesday that the Cabinet decided to extend the Covid-curbing measures governing airports and flights until March 1.

The Ministry said that a decision taken by the Cabinet in December 2020 for the gradual resumption of flights and reopening of airports in March remains the case.

Last week, Deputy Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios told CyBC state television on Wednesday that Cyprus plans to reopen its airports to visitors from all countries on March 1.

“This means that passengers will be able to visit Cyprus without quarantine restrictions, unless they test positive for COVID-19 on arrival,” Perdios said.

He said that the 56 countries with which Cyprus has an air connection will be designated colors 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 said he did not expect any tourists to arrive in the country before March 1 and preferred 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.