Covid-19: Cyprus to welcome vaccinated UK tourists from Mayon March 5, 2021 at 5:00 am

Cyprus has said it will open its borders to vaccinated Britons from the start of May – but UK government travel restrictions will still be in force.

The Cypriot government said those who had both Covid jabs could travel there without restrictions from 1 May.

But this is more than two weeks before the earliest date those in England will be able to go abroad for holidays.

It comes as an analysis found the cost of seaside accommodation has risen by 35% this summer compared with 2020.

Cyprus’s deputy tourism minister, Savvas Perdios, said the country would allow Britons who had been given vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) the right to enter without the need for a negative test or to quarantine.

Tourists would be required to have had their second dose at least seven days before travelling, the minister added.

Currently the Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna jabs have been approved for use by the EMA, but it is not clear how travellers will be required to prove they have been vaccinated.

British tourists make up the largest group of visitors to the island, and made more than a million trips to Cyprus in 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Cyprus has already struck a similar agreement allowing Israeli tourists to enter the country from 1 April.

Greece has also agreed to admit visitors from Israel who can prove their status with the Israeli “green” digital certificate.

The UK government has not yet approved any vaccination certificate but Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove is leading a review into possible measures.

But foreign leisure travel will still be barred for people in England at the beginning of May, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying the earliest Britons could jet away is 17 May.

This is dependent on various factors related to the coronavirus pandemic, such as vaccine rollouts and the prevalence of Covid-19 variants.

Holidays at home could begin more than a month earlier, with people in England potentially permitted to stay in self-contained accommodation such as holiday lets from 12 April under Mr Johnson’s road map for easing lockdown restrictions.

This has led to many people opting to plan a holiday at home, resulting in them becoming more expensive.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not yet announced plans for allowing foreign holidays.

Researchers from Which? looked at prices for a total of 15 properties on accommodation booking platforms Airbnb and Vrbo.

The cost of stays in July and August is typically 35% higher now than if the equivalent dates last summer were booked during May and June 2020.

A one-bedroom maisonette in Brighton has the largest mark-up, increasing in price from £53 per night to £127 per night.

The cost of a one-week stay at a property in Llandudno has risen from £427 to £596, while seven nights in a property in St Ives has gone from £860 to £1,263.

Some price rises were more modest, with a one-bedroom cottage in Scarborough just 7% more expensive this summer.

Airbnb described the analysis as “misleading” and claimed research has shown guests feel the company is more affordable than other accommodation options.

Vrbo said it “does not set, change or influence the property prices a host chooses”, adding that holidaymakers agree to prices before they book.

Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said: “Many holidaymakers are looking forward to finally going to the seaside this summer, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that high demand has seen prices for some destinations shoot up too.”

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