The need for EU member states to adopt a common policy on vaccination certificates so as to support the much-affected by the coronavirus tourism industry is a must.
This is what Deputy Minister of Tourism, Savvas Perdios, said during an EU Tourism Ministers’ video-call organised on Tuesday by the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council.
The participants focused on “Promoting a more effective pan-European approach to supporting the tourism industry which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.”
They also focused on joint measures to be taken to boost tourism, cross-border mobility and the restoration of travellers’ confidence.
The Minister argued “a common vaccination policy would allow, on the one hand, vaccinated citizens to travel without laboratory tests.
“On the other hand, such a policy would not exclude those who have not been vaccinated to travel, who can do so by presenting a negative laboratory test for coronavirus.”
Moreover, Perdios presented the dramatic impact the coronavirus pandemic had on the tourism sector in Cyprus.
“The decrease in tourist revenue and arrivals for the year 2020 reached 85%, the numbers speak for themselves,” he said.
“Cyprus is the member state whose tourism industry may have taken the biggest blow in the EU,” he added.
The Minister explained that the tourism industry in Cyprus is inextricably linked to the country`s air connectivity with the rest of the world.
He also suggested that the current state aid framework for the aviation industry gets extended – both in terms of duration and level of relevant state aid.
