Statistical Office:
Statistical Service Republic of Cyprus (CYSTAT)
COVID-19 related project/initiative:
Use of the "Cyprus Flight Pass" online portal in producing statistics on arrivals of travellers at the airports
The "Cyprus Flight Pass" is an online portal, which was set up by the Government of the Republic of Cyprus for the purpose of collecting information from passengers aiming to travel to Cyprus, as part of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The “Cyprus Flight Pass” came into operation as of June 2020, when the airports in Cyprus reopened for international travel, based on certain epidemiological criteria.
In order to fly to Cyprus, passengers are obliged to fill in their personal information and flight details, make legal declarations as well as provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test (in case the latter is necessary). Countries are categorized according to their epidemiological situation into categories A, B and C, with category A having the most favourable epidemiological status. According to the information provided by the passengers and the epidemiological situation of their country, an authorization to enter the country and a Cyprus flight pass is issued.
The Statistical Service of Cyprus has obtained access to the data collected through the portal as of 9/6/2020, when the airports reopened. These data are processed and edited on a monthly basis by staff of the Statistical Service, for the purpose of estimating tourist arrivals and the trips of residents of Cyprus abroad. Consequently, the border survey that was previously conducted by the Statistical Service at the arrivals halls in the airports has been suspended and the “Cyprus Flight Pass” has become the sole source of information for producing the above mentioned statistics. The “Cyprus Flight Pass” portal is expected to remain in operation until June 2021.