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A total of 100.852 tourist arrivals were recorded in May 2021, compared to zero arrivals recorded in May 2020, a period during which measures were implemented to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Cyprus. According to these measures, there was a ban of entry to the Republic on several categories of persons, including tourists. As compared to May 2019 (when 434.578 arrivals were recorded), there was a decrease of 76,8%.

For the period of January – May 2021, arrivals of tourists totaled 156.825 compared to 246.556 in the corresponding period of 2020, recording a decrease of 36,4%, as well as a decrease of 86,0% compared to the period of January – May 2019 (1.121.361 arrivals).

Arrivals from Russia were the main source of tourism for the month of May 2021, with a share of 56,8% (57.320) of total arrivals, followed by Ukraine with 7,8% (7.821), Israel with 6,9% (6.948) and Greece with 6,1% (6.146).                                                                                                     

For a percentage of 80,7% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in May 2021 was holidays, for 9,8% visit to friends and relatives and for 9,4% business. Respectively, in May 2019, 82,8% of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 10,2% visited friends or relatives and 7,0% visited Cyprus for business reasons.

n.a.: Not applicable

Methodological Notes

Definitions

Tourists – Visitors who stay for at least one night in Cyprus.

Tourist arrivals – The term refers to the number of trips and not to the number of persons. This differs in the sense that one person can take more than one trips during the reference period.

Source of data and coverage

The statistics for May 2021 were obtained from processing of the data of the electronic platform “Cyprus Flight Pass”. The passengers aiming to travel to Cyprus were required to submit in the above-mentioned platform, information in relation to their flight, their country of residence, the purpose of their visit, as well as other demographic characteristics. This information was used by the Statistical Service, in order to estimate the number of tourist arrivals during the reference period. The weighting of data was conducted based on the data sent to the Statistical Service by the Civil Aviation Department and from the ship manifests, as well as data sent by the Analysis and Statistics Office of the Cyprus Police.

Due to issues that arose from the self-declared information provided by the passengers, it was not possible to provide a more extensive analysis by country of usual residence.

For more information:

Statistical Service (CYSTAT) Website, subtheme Tourism

Contact

Lucy Panayidou: Tel.: +35722602152, E-mail: lpanagidou@cystat.mof.gov.cy

(ΙΚ/ECHR)