The Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC), as the trade association of the shipping industry in Cyprus, signed the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change, together with a number of its member-companies and joined the worldwide call to action to end the unprecedented crew change crisis caused by Covid-19.

Explore the culture in Nicosia! Old door in the old city since 1897.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, many of us never gave a second thought to sharing bathrooms or sleeping in beds that others had slept in - now we're all hyper-conscious about travel hygiene. With this in mind, experts at ShowersToYou.co.uk sought to find the European capitals with the cleanest accommodation to help us plan our next getaway.

 Using Airbnb, Booking.com, and Tripadvisor, ShowersToYou.co.uk calculated the average cleanliness ratings of accommodation within popular European capitals, to reveal the cleanest destinations in Europe.

Where are the top three cleanest European capitals?

 Lisbon comes in first place as the cleanest European capital with an average of 4.79 stars. Between the three websites analysed, Airbnbs in Lisbon had the highest ratings (4.89), with TripAdvisor following closely behind (4.87 stars). When looking at guest reviews, common sentiments included: ‘rooms felt clean and well cared for’ and ‘very very clean and enforced mask-wearing/hand cleaning’.

 Coming in second is the picturesque Prague. The medieval capital of the Czech Republic scored an average of 4.74 stars in total, with stays in Airbnbs receiving the highest cleanliness rating (4.87). With the same average rating is Zagreb in joint second with 4.74 stars.

 Berlin makes the top 10 cleanest European capitals. Berlin grabs the 10th spot alongside Athens and Budapest with an overall rating of 4.68 stars. Airbnb guests were the most satisfied with the cleanliness of their stays, rating the vibrant capital with 4.84 stars, followed by TripAdvisor (4.76 stars) and Booking.com (4.44 stars).

 Zagreb comes out on top with 4.93 stars on Airbnb. Some of the guest reviews describe their stay in Croatia's capital as ‘sparkling clean’, ‘spotlessly clean’ and "immaculately clean’. Despite ranking as the sixth cleanest European capital overall, Moscow places in joint second place alongside Budapest, Madrid and Amsterdam with an average cleanliness rating on Airbnb of 4.90 stars.

 Again, Zagreb comes in first place as the European capital with the cleanest accommodation on Booking.com with an average of 4.67 stars. Following in second is Poland's capital, Warsaw, with 4.62 stars and Lisbon with 4.61 stars.

 Contradicting its stereotype of being smelly and dirty, TripAdvisor users rated Paris as the city to have the cleanest stays in Europe with 4.88 stars. Lisbon claims second with cleanliness ratings of 4.87 stars. Combatting the dirty stereotype again, London makes the top 3 cleanest capitals on TripAdvisor with 4.85 stars on average.

The council of ministers recently adopted a proposal providing for a mandatory self-isolation for 72 hours and the carrying out of a PCR laboratory test 72 hours after arrival, to all passengers arriving from category A and B countries, thus strengthening the measures implemented at the airports of the Republic since their re-opening in the summer of 2020.

Ryanair has announced fie additional flights every week from Paphos to Tel Aviv as part of its Summer 2021 schedule.

The Cyprus Commerce Minister recently gave a press conference on a new strategy for commerce and new support programmes for participation in trade fairs.

Cyprus’s Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Natasa Pilides, at a press conference for the presentation of the ministry’s new strategy for commerce, as well as the new support programmes, operated under ‘de minimis’ state aid regulation, for the participation of Cypriot companies in trade fairs, at the Ministry of Commerce.