Cyprus offers to cover the costs for tourists infected with Covid-19 while on holiday on the island
- The government has announced international travel will resume from 9 June
- An action plan will be implemented to encourage the return of holidaymakers
- It includes paying for infected tourists' accommodation and food and drink
- A 500-room 'quarantine hotel' is being reserved for patients' family members
- Despite the measures, UK tourists remain blacklisted from visiting Cyprus
Cyprus has promised to cover all costs for holidaymakers testing positive for coronavirus on the island in a bid to encourage the return of tourists.
The government has pledged to cover accommodation, food, drink and medicine for every single Covid-19 patient and their family, and says the only cost for those infected with the virus will be the taxi ride to the airport flight back home.
But the good news doesn't extend to Brits, who will remain blacklisted from the island because of the UK's high death toll and infection rate, despite being the 'bread and butter of Cyprus tourism'.
An action plan is being implemented by the Cyprus government to ensure any coronavirus cases are quickly isolated when international air travel resumes on 9 June, after nearly three months of lockdown.
Rows of closed parasols on a nearly empty stretch of Nissi beach with a few beachgoers in the distance in Cyprus' seaside resort of Ayia Napa, a favourite among tourists from Europe and beyond
A 100-bed hospital will cater exclusively to travellers who test positive and around 112 intensive care units fitted with 200 respirators will be reserved for the sickest patients.
A 500-room 'quarantine hotel' will also be available for patients´ family members.
The pledge was made in a lengthy five-page letter issued to governments, airlines and tour operators on Tuesday.
It outlined strict health protocols as the government tries to woo visitors back to the tourism-reliant country, after a compulsory two-week quarantine for those entering came to an end on Monday.
The letter, signed by Cyprus´ foreign affairs, transport and tourism ministers, boasts that the island has one of the lowest coronavirus ratios per head in Europe after having tested more than 10 per cent of its population.
A security officer stands in the empty check-in hall of Cyprus' Larnaca International Airport on March 21, 2020, which will likely be far busier when international travel resumes on 9 June
The latest figures show just 939 confirmed cases and 17 deaths across the island.
International air travel to Cyprus will resume on 9 June from 19 countries, with all passengers made to undergo a coronavirus test three days before departure.
That measure will be lifted on 20 June for 13 countries including Germany, Finland, Israel, Greece and Norway.
Passengers will be made to present their test certificate before boarding a plane and may have to wear masks throughout the flight.
Sunbathers sit on an empty stretch of 'Landa' beach at the Cyprus seaside resort of Ayia Napa on 10 May
Other measures will see their temperature taken on arrival and they will have to complete a 'COVID-19 Traveller Declaration' list, detailing all travel from 14 days prior to their Cyprus trip.
Officials say travel will be expanded to more countries following a review of their infection rates.
Tourism is a major industry for the island, accounting for 13 per cent of its economy. But this year Cyprus expects to lose as much as 70 per cent of the €2.6billion-worth of tourism-generated revenue.
Despite its phased reopening, both Britain - which accounts for a third of all arrivals - and Russia, remain banned from the initial lists amid concerns that they have not yet sufficiently contained coronavirus.
A woman wearing a face mask exits from a shop along Makarios Avenue, a busy shopping street in central Nicosia, Cyprus, in early May
Zacharias Ioannides who heads the Cyprus Hotels Association in Nicosia, the island’s capital said: 'The UK is definitely our prime market, the bread and butter of Cyprus tourism whose importance is undisputed.
'But right now health safety is of prime concern and everything depends on what epidemiologists say,' he told The Sun.
Cyprus officials have said hope to regain lost ground in the tourism sector and are 'optimistic' that British and Russian tourists will be allowed by July.
Deputy Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios said: 'The hit is massive, and we are trying to do our best now and do what we can for the remainder of the season.
'We have worked extremely hard to keep the virus in check here.
'For our important markets like the UK, Russia and Sweden I expect in early July the situation (there) will allow their travel to Cyprus. I am quite optimistic about that.
'We have taken a lot of measures...but at the same time we do understand that people want to come here on holiday so we haven't converted Cyprus into a massive hospital.'
Beachgoers walk by sea water during sunset on an empty stretch of the Makrinissos shore in Cyprus' seaside resort of Ayia Napa, a favourite among European tourists. With coronavirus restrictions gradually lifting, Cyprus authorities are mulling ways to get holidaymakers back to the tourism-reliant island nation
While in Cyprus, people who aren't in the same group must remain at least least two square meters apart when outdoors and three square meters apart when inside, officials added.
Other measures implemented to ensure tourist safety include the regular disinfection of sunbeds, also kept two metres apart for those from different travel groups.
Hotel staff have been told they must wear facemasks and disinfect every room after guests depart.
Tables in restaurants, bars, cafes and pubs will also be separated by at least two, with a maximum party size of 10, and card payments will be encouraged.
People walk on Ledra street a main shopping street in Nicosia on 25 May 2020
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