The competent authorities of the Republic and the Foreign Ministry must find a solution within the next ten days for the delays in the visas of the Russian citizens, who wish to visit Cyprus for holidays. On the recent tourist exhibition held in Moscow, this problem was an issue of discussion among the CTO, the competent ministries and PASYXE.

The Russian tour operators warned that if the island’s authorities do not find a solution immediately, then Cyprus will suffer a decline in Russian tourist arrivals for the seventh consecutive year.

According to StockWatch sources, the Foreign Ministry promised to staff the embassy of Moscow the soonest possible in order to settle the issue, although the time limits are particularly restricted. Russian tourists are already seeking for new destinations, whose packages are lower than that of Cyprus.

CTO Chairman, Fotis Fotiou told StockWatch that he will have a meeting with the Commerce Minister, Giorgos Lillikas to review the issue. “CTO has proceeded to the necessary representations to solve the problem, but the competent authority is the Foreign Ministry. We must find additional staff for the embassy in Moscow to strengthen its services”, Mr. Fotiou added.

It is noted that Russian tourist arrivals in 1997 reached 220 thousand, while in 2003 they hardly reached 115 thousand. For the past few years Russian tourist arrivals in Turkey reached 1 million.