Undersecretary of Tourism Savvas Perdios denied reports that chartered flights from Russia to Cyprus had been canceled, saying that what had happened was a change of schedule and that chartered flights scheduled for June had been postponed to July, at the initiative of travel and airline as the Russian authorities have not yet allowed chartered flights.
At the same time, in statements after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Mr. Perdios sent optimistic messages in view of the decisions of the British for the updated list of countries for travel abroad and the decision of the Russian authorities to allow chartered flights in four or five countries, including Cyprus, while reiterating that the Cypriot tourism industry depends on the decisions of others.
We did not have and did not miss charter flights from Russia
Regarding the reports on the cancellation of chartered flights, Mr. Perdios said he explained that what was done and presented in a wrong way is that some travel organizers rushed to schedule chartered flights for June, which were not approved by the Russian Federation.
“So these are not flights we had and missed, it was a schedule that has been postponed to July,” he said.
Saying that in the coming weeks we must intensify our communication with the Russian side, to give regularly and on a weekly basis the statistics regarding the epidemiological picture of Cyprus, Mr. Perdios stated that “I believe that the intention of the Russian side is in some weeks from today to allow chartered travel, for tourism, that is, to specific countries abroad and I believe that the chances of Cyprus to be in these countries are good “.
Asked about the conditions set by Russia to allow charter flights, Mr. Perdios said that the Russian side also expects further coverage in their own vaccination program, which, as he said, means that they have no intention the next month or two to allow travel around the world.
“However, they are receptive to the idea of allowing a small number of countries to vacation and I believe that Cyprus is being taken seriously and our job in the coming weeks is to convince ourselves that we will be on the list of these countries,” he added.
Regarding the trips to Britain, Mr. Perdios, after reminding that the British also removed Portugal from the green category, said that the main concern of Britain, not so much for the trips to Cyprus, but in general, concerns the Indian mutation, noting that They consider that their vaccination program should go a little further with the 2nd dose so that they can more freely give the green light for more trips abroad.
“This for Cyprus”, he said, “means that we are in a very epidemiological situation, it is something that the British see very positively, but they expect from us some additional data, regarding the type of mutations that we have in Cyprus. “It is very important for the British to know from us that in the cases we find in Cyprus there is not a large number of cases of Indian mutation,” he said.
Therefore, he added, we are in constant contact with the Government of the United Kingdom to provide these statistics, adding that in the regular information given by the Cypriot authorities to the British, data regarding the Indian mutation will be added.
“I believe that if our epidemiological situation continues to improve and given that we do not find cases of Indian mutation, I think there is a good chance that Cyprus in a few weeks from today will be in the green category,” said the Deputy Minister of Tourism.
We depend on the decisions of others
Asked if the messages from the contacts between the United Kingdom and Russia are positive, Mr. Perdios said “and not to say positively, there should not be all this negativity that was created in the last three or four days with wrong impressions and wrong data” .
“These flights did not exist, so we can not say they were canceled, nor should we let it be understood that Russian flights are canceled from the existing program, as this is not the case,” he added.
Asked what the estimate is for the expected arrivals from Britain and Russia, Mr. Perdios stressed that he can not make an estimate, as he has not done in recent months.
“And the reason is simple. “Things are constantly changing, we depend on decisions of other countries, on their own vaccination programs,” he said, adding that what the Undersecretary said about the difficulty of making predictions is confirmed and that there would be no increased tourist flow before July.
“And this is confirmed and verified, nothing has changed in relation to what we have been saying in recent months, just what happened in the meantime is that because as Cyprus we did everything we needed to open in time, at the same time the expectation was created that they would want us and the others “, he said and continued:” But it was clear to the State Department from the beginning that we now depend on the decisions of others “.
Potentially 500 flights from Russia in July
Asked if flights were being planned ahead of decisions by Britain and Russia, Mr Perdios said Russian organizers and airlines had flown in and planned flights on their own initiative in June, with their British colleagues more cautious and eager. decisions.
“The airlines and tour operators had planned on their own initiative 500 flights a month to Cyprus, we have about 80 (scheduled) at the moment and now they are scheduled for July.”
Finally, when asked if these numbers give a picture, Mr. Perdios said that “this gives a picture of intention and interest and there is a huge interest from both the British to travel and the Russians.”
