The Mediterranean island country of Cyprus reopened for tourists on Tuesday after having closed its border to international visitors since March 21 due to the coronavirus crisis.

The first flight to arrive at the airport in Larnaca was an Israir Airlines flight from Tel Aviv and the first flight to depart Cyprus was an Aegean flight to Athens. A flight from Bulgaria and another flight from Athens are expected to arrive later on Tuesday.

Cyprus is allowing flights only from a select group of countries and passengers must show evidence of a negative coronavirus test taken in the 72 hours before their flight. The latter stipulation will only be in effect until June 20 for the 13 countries currently on the approved list. Six more countries will be added to the approved list on that date as well.

“The connection of our island with 19 other countries resumes after two and a half months,” Cypriot Transportation Minister Yiannis Karousos tweeted. ” “Cypriot airports open with optimism with the first flight arriving at Larnaca from Israel.”

An estimated 600,000 tourists are expected to visit Cyprus in August from the approved countries of Israel, Greece, Germany, Austria, Malta, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Lithuania. On June 20, the countries of Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Switzerland will be added to the list.

The two countries with the highest number of tourists visiting Cyprus under normal circumstances, the UK and Russia, are not on the approved list. Sweden, France, Belgium and the Netherlands are also not on the list.

In a bid to attract tourists, the Cypriot government announced last week that it would cover the medical costs for any tourist who tests positive for the coronavirus while vacationing on the island.

Cyprus took swift and early action to prevent the spread of the coronavirus when the pandemic began, shutting its borders, imposing a strict lockdown which allowed only once-daily outings for necessities as well as enforcing a curfew.

The island country has 970 confirmed cases and has recorded 18 deaths.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)