CYPRUS is scrambling to find ways to salvage tourism from Russia, under threat following a warning by from Russian President Vladimir Putin that his citizens would turn to the north of the island if Cyprus failed to ease visa requirements.
Government Spokesman and Tourism Minister George Lillikas said yesterday that the issue had been placed before a ministerial committee to try and find a way around the dilemma.
He said the idea was to come up with a plan and make a special case to the EU.
Before Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004, the government had a visa-free regime with Moscow; there were some 100,000 Russians a year coming to Cyprus, and the market was expanding.
The introduction of visas, however, saw numbers fall after accession. Even though the government pulled out all the stops to streamline the visa procedure, numbers fell by around 25,000 in one year.
During a news conference in Moscow on Tuesday, Putin suggested Russia and Cyprus return to the pre-EU visa free regime both countries enjoyed before May 2004.
He hinted that if something could not be worked out with the EU on this issue, Russian tourists would turn to the north of the island instead.
“If no such procedures are introduced, then more and more people, who have no interest whatever in politics, believe me, they don’t even know what is going on in Cyprus, will go to Turkey and the northern part of Cyprus, because there they let them in without visas,” he said. “They turn up at the border, they get a stamp in their passport, they pay, I don’t know, 20 dollars, or 25, and they go and take their holiday.”
The message was also made clear to President Tassos Papadopoulos during his recent visit to Moscow, where Russian businessmen expressed their wish to work with both sides of the island in the tourism sector. Papadopoulos told them the Cyprus government did not encourage people to visit the north.
Lillikas said yesterday that Russia was not targeting Cyprus over the visa issue. He said Moscow wanted special arrangements from the EU in general regarding the movement of its citizens within the bloc.
“Russia is highlighting the problem over visas, not only for Cyprus but for all of the EU,” said Lillikas. ‘It is an issue of high priority in the dialogue between Russia and the EU.”
Lillikas said Russia was a big country “and a superpower”. “And it feels that the attitude of the EU on the issue of visas for Russian citizens places restrictions on their rights,” he added.
The Minister said Putin has raised the issue of streamlining visa procedures even further, or even obtaining an exemption through the EU.
Lillikas said the ministerial committee would include the Foreign Minister, the Interior Minister and himself, to study the issue further or come up with alternative processes, such as processing visas at the airport as was done in the distant past.
“We hope we will have positive correspondence with Brussels,” he said.
