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The peaceful end to the hijack could not have come at a better time for Cyprus and the tourism industry, as we approach the holiday season with an increase in the number of vacationers this year.
The rise in tourist arrivals is partly expected due to trouble in the region (attacks in Turkey) and the terror fears in other resorts (Sharm El Sheikh, Tunisia), whereas western European and Russian travel companies have already declared they will be diverting their traffic to Spain and Greece this summer. Furthermore, lax security at Egyptian airports is bound to result in travel warnings being issued by tour operators.
The hijack episode showed that Cyprus is ready to deal with a potential threat, fortunately not of the scale witnessed in Brussels this month and Paris in November. It also puts an end to the darkest days of aviation security when 15 Egyptian commandos were killed by friendly fire in 1978, resulting in the collapse of relations between the two countries for two decades.
Although security measures have been upscaled ever since last year’s terrorist attacks and the suspicion that terror groups may be channeling their supporters through the area, holidaymakers need to feel safe and, as worrying as it may seem, need to see physical security measures in place, such as increased patrols in public areas and greater vigilance during airport and port inspections.
The continued problems at the two airports’ passport controls, mostly unrelated to international security concerns, need to end and the ministers of the Interior (civil service), Justice (police) and Communications (ports) must put their foot down before Cyprus gets embarrassed even further with horror stories of stranded holidaymakers, which will become worse during the unbearably hot summer months.
When passengers, especially Europeans nowadays, are more tolerant to increased security checks, just as Americans and Israelis have been for decades, bordering on the absurd or even eccentric, the authorities should try and make the airport experience as trouble-free as possible, as Cyprus relies on repeat tourism much more than the casual single-visit holidaymakers.
There is no harm in taking precautions, as long as officials do their work properly and are prepared to be as polite, helpful and descriptive as possible.
