Cyprus is creating three quarantine hotels so family and friends of holidaymakers who test positive to coronavirus can isolate in comfort, deputy tourism minister Savvas Perdios has told the Daily Mail.
The hotels, which come with room service, will be paid for by the government and entertainment will be held every night, which guests can enjoy from their balconies, including bingo, karaoke and performances, the paper added.
Perdios also reiterated that the government has set up a hospital exclusively for tourists who test positive for coronavirus while on holiday here.
He told MailOnline Travel: ‘We have set up a dedicated hospital for people who test positive. The hospital has dedicated intensive care beds and ventilators and the government will cover all their medical expenses until they’re fit to fly home.
“We will also have 500 rooms in quarantine hotels where family and friends of those who have tested positive can stay at the government’s expense.
“They can order room service, meals and drinks, and will be provided with nightly entertainment including karaoke, shows and bingo so it will still feel like a holiday. The government will cover the cost of this. We don’t want visitors to end up paying double.”
Perdios said he was confident UK tourists would be able to visit from mid-July.
“We expect UK tourist to be able to visit by mid-July. August and September are looking very good for UK tourists. We are one of the warmest countries in the Med, so it’s hot here until Christmas,” he said.
And he added: “Cyprus has amazing food, beautiful nature, amazing hospitality, and it has shown that it is capable of dealing with a crisis and has a very dependable health service. We have a higher ratio of intensive care beds than the average country in the EU and people are going to be looking at those statistics when deciding where to holiday this year.
“We want people to feel confident when visiting and know that they will be looked after if they become ill.”
And he concluded: “Cyprus will not look like a major hospital this summer. There will be social distancing in place, of course, and increased cleaning but visitors won’t have to book a sunbed or be forced to sunbathe in a mask. The service will be much better as there’ll be fewer people.’
