Cyprus Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios said he received optimistic messages over this year’s tourist flows from Russia, the island’s second largest tourist market.

Perdios is visiting Moscow for the second time in just a few weeks to meet with Russian officials, following his contacts with air carriers and tour operators.

“There’s widespread optimism in the Russian market for trips abroad and especially for Cyprus, we have always been among the top preferences of the market but especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” Perdios told CNA, speaking from Moscow.

Perdios who has already briefed Russian tour operators and air carriers over Cyprus' new entry protocol as well as the Deputy Ministry’s extraordinary incentive’s scheme approved by the European Union, had contacts with the Russian Minister of Transport and the head of Russia’s Tourist Board.

He said that tourist arrivals from Russia are already underway with hoteliers reporting that they never had Russian tourists in Cyprus this time of year. He added that this is associated with his first trip to Moscow.

Regarding his contacts with Russian officials, Perdios said he conveyed a request for the recommencement of charter flights to Cyprus as well as the increase of scheduled flights from the country’s regional airports.

“These obstacles were in place last year, we asked the authorities to reconsider these two issues,” Perdios said, adding that on the Deputy Ministry’s part they briefed their interlocutors over Cyprus decision to accept the Sputnik and Sputnik light Covid vaccines as well as on Cyprus facilities offered to tourists such as free state quarantine in case a tourist contracts Covid while in Cyprus.

Responding to a question, Perdios said the Russian authorities were positive over Cyprus' decisions to facilitate tourism but did not give a reply to the requests he submitted as the pandemic is handled by a specific committee.

Apart from flights to and from Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Cyprus is connected with another 15 cities in Russia.

Stating that it is positive that Cyprus is connected with Russia’s regional airports, Perdios said “we would like to make another step with more flights weekly from regional airports by each air carrier,” adding that if these requests are accepted, Russian tourists could increase over the approximately half a million arrivals of last year.

Perdios also said that he will be visiting Russia in June for the Economic Forum to be held in June in Saint Petersburg.

Moreover, the Cypriot Deputy Minister said he is optimistic for a better tourist year as the situation concerning traveling is normalising due to high vaccinations, more knowledge concerning the handling of the pandemic.

He noted that according to data, searches in Google for Cyprus have doubled or tripled compared with the respective period of last year.

“This shows the intention for traveling and I believe that as we informed (tourist markets) on our new protocol and our incentives we will do better than in 2021, based on the data we have today,” he said.

But he noted that the Deputy Ministry will have a clearer picture in end-March as the tourist season is approaching. “It is a fact, that demand is high not only for Cyprus but for travelling in general,” he said.