Cyprus' finance minister rules out ‘catastrophic year’ for tourism

Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides is confident the tourism industry in the Republic of Cyprus won't have a catastrophic year following the pandemic, while calling on Europe to step up its recovery plan equally across the board.

In a TV interview with CNBC International this week, Petrides said Cyprus was "almost a pandemic-free country" after managing to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The finance minister said his government was "quite optimistic" regarding Cyprus as a safe travel destination this summer for European tourists, citing incentives and state-wide medical preparedness as well as last week's announcement by Wizz Air to add Larnaca as a base for seven new country destinations.

But Petrides also warned that a successful way forward was for the European Union to deploy more instruments to ensure economic recovery would not be uneven across...