Cyprus hopes to welcome vaccinated UK tourists from May - what you need to know

Cyprus will open its doors to vaccinated British tourists from May (Photo: ETIENNE TORBEY/AFP via Getty Images)Cyprus will open its doors to vaccinated British tourists from May (Photo: ETIENNE TORBEY/AFP via Getty Images)
Cyprus will open its doors to vaccinated British tourists from May (Photo: ETIENNE TORBEY/AFP via Getty Images)

Cyprus will allow British tourists who have had both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine into the country with no restrictions from 1 May.

Speaking to Cyprus News Agency, Deputy Minister for Tourism Savvas Perdios said: “We have informed the British government that as of May 1, we will facilitate the arrival of British citizens who have been immunised with EMA-licensed vaccines to arrive to Cyprus with no negative Covid-19 test and no quarantine.”

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The second dose of a vaccine will need to have been administered at least seven days before travel, Perdios said, and authorities would also reserve the right to carry out random tests on arrivals.

International travel will resume ‘no earlier than 17 May’

However, the move to allow British tourists from 1 May is still more than two weeks before the earliest date that those in England will be permitted to go abroad for holidays.

According to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown for England, “the Government will determine when international travel should resume, which will be no earlier than 17 May”.

According to the roadmap, “the Global Travel Taskforce will report on 12 April with recommendations aimed at facilitating a return to international travel as soon as possible while still managing the risk from imported cases and Variants of Concern”.

Vaccine passports

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Currently, it is unclear how British tourists will be required to prove their vaccination status.

Currently, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, is conducting a review into the use of vaccine passports, and is due to report back before the fourth stage of easing lockdown restrictions on 21 June.

The EU has already announced plans for vaccine passports, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen stating that plans for a “digital green pass” will be set out this month. The pass would allow people to prove that they have been vaccinated, or show the results of a Covid-19 test.

The digital green pass “should facilitate European’s lives” according to von der Leyen.

She said: “The aim is to gradually enable them to move safely in the European Union or abroad - for work or tourism.”

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