What’s it like to travel to Cyprus under new arrival protocols?

“I’ve been travelling to Cyprus since I worked here as a holiday rep for Thomas Cook 15 years ago and the thought of not coming this year was not an option for me; if anything I need it more this year than any other.”

“We booked our flights towards the end of June not knowing what would happen but thinking that in the worst case scenario, we wouldn’t be able to travel and we’d get our money back. Throughout the whole month of July we were on tenterhooks.”

“We watched as the government’s categories were introduced and for news on where Cyprus would sit. When we heard the announcement about the first entry date being 1 August, we jumped online and moved our flights from 30 July to 2 August, for a small difference in fare – and I’m glad we did as now we are here!”

“To be honest, the run-up to our trip was quite stressful (and I work in travel, so that’s saying something), but mainly due to the lack of communication. I know we are very reliant on epidemiological figures, which is completely understandable, but as a traveller who has flights booked and doesn’t know whether they can go, not go, or can go and, in Cyprus’s case, need a test, is stressful. In a way – it’s been useful to see how this feels both as an agent on behalf of a customer …. And as an actual traveller!”

“When it was announced that we could travel, there was a sense of relief, but that was followed by our confusion around how we would follow the new entry requirements for Cyprus and get ourselves a Covid-19 test in order to be allowed in.”

Testing times

“Luckily that same week, a local doctor had popped into my store to advise us that her clinics in London were now offering Covid-19 tests for £150 per person. Due to flying on a Sunday, we had to plan to get the results on a Friday as you cannot take the tests or get results on a weekend. We went to a local private clinic and it was really simple, swab of mouth and nose, and then on the Friday we both got our negative results back with a letter from the doctor with a certificate.”

“Even though I had a plan sorted, I researched further anyway, looked into local Cypriot Facebook groups, websites, Cyprus Flight Pass [the government’s official site for entry details and form] and discovered the information is extremely confusing. I can completely understand why tour operators have cancelled holidays to the island, as it could be seen as too much responsibility to expect clients to be able to do this, and then have it fall back on operators if clients don’t have the right paperwork.”

“I also saw a lot of people online asking if NHS tests are accepted, but realistically NHS tests shouldn’t be used to get clearance for travel and to be honest I wouldn’t have risked that route anyway.”

“What we need now in the UK are clinics who are going to offer reasonable priced tests, as £150 is expensive, when places like Cyprus are clearly offering it to residents for around €60. We want to be able to encourage clients to travel, not scare them off with further costs, such as high test fees.”