Despite the sanctions, difficulties in obtaining visas and the lack of direct flights, Russian tourists do not refuse to travel to Europe in the summer season of 2024.

The Russian tourist flow to Cyprus over the first 8 months of 2023 amounted to 41 thousand arrivals: this is comparable to the result for the entire last year and was 35% higher than the figure for January-August 2022.

According to the results of the first six months of 2023, the Russian tourist flow to Cyprus exceeded the figure for the entire 2022. First of all, such dynamics is associated with block flight programs of tour operators launched at the end of April.

The demand for Cyprus in 2023 season is higher than expected. Cyprus may increase in demand in July-August and there should be more bookings in September.

The tour operators Fun&Sun, Russian Express and Tez Tour have launched a block flight program from Moscow to Cyprus on regular Jazeera Airways flights with a connection in Kuwait. Booking’s volume of Cyprus already exceeds the figures for the entire last year.

The tour operator Russian Express took a block of seats on Jazeera Airways regular flights from Moscow to Larnaca (Cyprus) with a connection in Kuwait. The company explains the decision by the demand for Cyprus, which is quite good for the current conditions.

Tez Tour launches flights to Cyprus with Jazeera Airways. In the 2023 season, flights will be operated from 29.04.2023 three times a week.

Pegasus has announced flights to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Flights will be operated by Southwind Airlines via Antalya.

Fun&Sun to launch tours with a flight to Cyprus for the May holidays, summer and autumn - this is a block program of the company on flights of a foreign carrier.

A package offer for holidays in the resorts of Cyprus has been published on the website of the tour operator Biblio-Globus. The operator offers tours from 3 to 14 nights.

From June 1, 2022, foreign tourists, including Russian ones, are able to come to Cyprus under the same conditions as before the pandemic. By a government decision, all restrictions have been lifted: now not only vaccination certificates are needed, but also PCR tests.

From March 1, 2022, the tourist protocols of Cyprus have practically returned to the conditions of the summer season 2021: Russians vaccinated with WHO and EMA approved vaccines, as well as Sputnik V and Sputnik Light, only need a vaccination certificate to enter Cyprus.

The demand for foreign holidays during the May holidays is still behind the pre-Covid 2019 period by about 10%. The most popular destination for Russian tourists during this period is Turkey.

In 2022, Russian tour operators are actively entering the Cyprus market and expanding their flight programs.

The Government of Cyprus has made a number of decisions concerning the conditions of entry of foreign citizens from March 1, 2022. Thus, travelers who have been vaccinated or have had coronavirus are exempt from the obligations of providing PCR tests.

The Council of Ministers of Cyprus recently approved a new action plan for the smooth operation of flights and airports at Larnaca and Paphos in the Covid-19era that will come into effect from March 1. According to the new action plan, the categorization of countries based on their epidemiological risk will change and will include three categories with the following colour code: Green, Red and Grey Category. Vaccinated travelers or those who have recovered from Covid-19, regardless of nationality and country of departure, are exempt from the obligation to meet the requirements of the corresponding category (e.g. present a negative laboratory test, obligation to self-isolate/quarantine, issue a special permit, etc.) of the country of departure.

Cyprus has taken an important step in attracting Russian tourists by recognizing Sputnik Light, a single-dose vaccine, as a vaccine.

The tour operator Pegas Turistik has presented a flight program to Cyprus for the summer season 2022. The program is planned with direct flights of the Nord Wind airline to Larnaca from twelve Russian cities.

In sales of the November holidays’ tours Egypt was in the first place. Turkey was in the second place. The third place was taken by the UAE. Also, the Dominican Republic, Maldives, Cuba, Mexico, Hungary and Cyprus are in high demand.

In 9 months of 2021, almost 418 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation visited the country. As per the estimates of the Cypriot tourist authorities, by the end of 2021, more than 500 thousand Russian citizens will visit Cyprus.

For the nine months of 2021, Russians made 5,24 million trips to open and popular countries for the purpose of tourism. The volume of outbound tourist traffic is far behind the indicators of 2019.

In the first half of 2021, the most popular destinations among Russian travelers were Turkey, Cyprus and Greece.

According to experts, in 2021 the number of tourist arrivals to Cyprus from Russia may exceed 400 thousand.

Tours for the autumn season, 2021, according to the observations of the tourist experts, are quite in demand. In general, the TOP-10 most popular foreign destinations for the autumn season this year, as per the data of tour operators, includes Turkey, UAE, Maldives, Greece, Cuba, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Abkhazia and Croatia.

The Russian anti-coronavirus crisis center said that restrictions on regular and charter flight travel from Russia to the number of abroad destinations will be lifted on August 27.