Filenews 9 June 2021 - by Adamos Adamou
There has been a lot of disruption in the tourism industry over the last 24 hours, following reports that there have been several booking cancellations from Russia, but also that several booking transfers have been made for a later stage.
For the time being, however, the scheduling of flights from Russia to Cyprus does not seem to have changed, but because of the pandemic nothing should be taken for granted even this year in the tourism industry.
Some information from "F" indicates that the cancellations relate to bookings made by travel agencies, due to the outstanding situation regarding the opening of charter flights from Russia to Cyprus. According to the same information, from this week there were expected to be 20 additional charter flights from Russia, but they were cancelled.
The scene, as a hotel industry executive told us yesterday, is for the time being foggy. It is worth noting that it was the routes from Russia that prompted several hotel units to reopen in April and May. According to the companies' schedule, more than 90 flights a week from Russia to airports are expected in June. As we have written again, the Russian market since March last year has been closed, with the result that the significant decrease recorded overall in tourist arrivals in 2020 is also attributed to the absence of Russian tourists.
In 2019 the arrivals of Russian tourists amounted to 781,856, with Russia being the second most important market for Cypriot tourism. This year, the Russian market has essentially opened since 1 April and visitors can easily arrive in Cyprus, with the presentation of a negative test before their departure and with their arrival, since the country is in the "red category" of Cyprus, while those Russians who have been vaccinated -even with the Sputnik V vaccine , which Cyprus has recognised- can enter without the presentation of a test.
Meanwhile, the new airline planning posted yesterday by Hermes Airports confirms market estimates that if there are positive developments in pandemic management and if Cyprus is upgraded to Britain's green category, there will be a significant flow of tourist arrivals from July. This results from the fact that the number of flights (all companies and from all countries with which Cyprus is linked) to Larnaca Airport, from 264 per week this week, soars to 501 in the first week of July and increases further in the coming weeks. We note, however, that the planning of the companies, due to the pandemic, is constantly evaluated and there are several adjustments as well as cancellations.
