Greece and Cyprus lift COVID measures for tourist season

Greece and Cyprus have suspended a lot of COVID-19-era public well being measures forward of the excessive vacationer season. 

Sporting a face masks in most locations is not obligatory in each nations as of Wednesday, save for on public transport and at retirement houses and hospitals. 

Final week the Cypriot authorities additionally lifted all necessities at airports, which means travellers not have to current a vaccination certificates or unfavorable PCR check. The Greek authorities has mentioned it would evaluation the relaxations once more on September 1.

Tourism is essential to the pairs’ economies and a key supply of employment and progress.In 2019, journey and tourism accounted for 21.2 per cent of Greece’s GDP, straight using 381,800 individuals or round 10 per cent of the nation’s whole workforce. The trade’s contribution to Cyprus’s financial system is analogous at 22.7 per cent of yearly GDP. 

The variety of infections and deaths from COVID-19 in Greece has fallen in latest weeks. In whole, the nation has recorded 29,800 COVID-related deaths. Cyprus has a inhabitants 10 occasions smaller and recorded 1,059 deaths.

In 2021, Cyprus noticed a year-on-year 51 per cent drop in vacationer arrivals. Within the 12 months earlier than the pandemic, practically 4 million individuals visited the nation: a record-breaking determine.

The variety of vacationers arriving in Greece elevated to fifteen.2 million in 2021, a bounce of practically eight million on the earlier 12 months. However numbers have been nonetheless approach beneath pre-pandemic ranges.