Cyprus (CU)_ A proposed ban against Russian tourists across the EU has been met with stark opposition by commonwealth and EU member Cyprus together with other EU members Greece with Germany.
Proponents of proposed EU ban include Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, and Norway where Estonia has currently bared Schengen visas to Russian travelers in an attempt to punish Russian president Vladimir Putin which was initiated by Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Opponents of the ban have indicated that the measures will be counterproductive where Cyprus’s Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kornelios S. Korneliou stated that they issue visas to Turkish citizens as they believe in people to people contact indicating its significance in spite historically tense relations between Greek and Turkish communities and the current tensions between Greece and Cyprus over Turkeys plans explore natural gas in the Mediterranean.
Opponents of the ban have also pointed out the devastating consequences such a ban may have on the local tourist industry within the EU where prior to the Russia-Ukraine war Russian tourists made up almost a quarter of tourists to Cyprus.
Russian tourists also make up a significant proportion of visitors to other EU nations with economical flights from Moscow to most EU destinations and the close proximity between the nations. With the global tourism industry in recovery mode after the easing restrictions in recent months following the pandemic despite the advocacy of the Russian tourist ban from certain heads of EU nations where the stakeholders of the tourism industry such as hotel restaurant owners and tour guides are also likely to push back on such attempts as the tourism industry has also been hit by higher fuel costs and rising inflation across the globe.
Many critics have argued that economic boycotts are more likely to become self-destructive rather than harm the intended target as Russian oil import have increased across many nations across the world such as China and India the countries with largest populations in the world and extremely signiant consumers of energy and many other nations such as Turkey which doubled its oil imports from Russia recently. A partial oil import ban to EU nations is also likely to further strain EU resident during the winter season. The reluctance of some EU nations to further pursue economic boycotts against Russia may also be due to the concern of further complicating any possible negotiated settlement in the near future.
