Press Releases

Tourist Arrivals 13,5%

The arrivals of tourists reached 110.041 in December 2022 compared to 96.928 in December 2021, recording an increase of 13,5%.

For the period of January – December 2022, arrivals of tourists totaled 3.201.080 compared to 1.936.931 in the corresponding period of 2021, 631.609 in the period of January – December 2020 and 3.976.777 arrivals in the period of January – December 2019.

Analysis of countries

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for December 2022, with a share of 24,3% (26.708) of total arrivals, followed by Israel with 17,1% (18.801), Greece with 11,0% (12.055), Poland with 8,5% (9.316) and Germany with 4,5% (4.976).

Purpose of visit

For a percentage of 61,9% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in December 2022 was holidays, for 27,4% visit to friends and relatives and for 10,4% business. Respectively, in December 2021, 61,5% of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 29,0% visited friends or relatives and 9,5% visited Cyprus for business reasons.

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 data are obtained from the Passengers Survey which is carried out at the points of arrival in Larnaka and Pafos airports. Additionally, data are also collected from administrative sources, such as the monthly arrivals from ports.

The data covers all persons who pass through passport control at the ports and airports in the Government controlled area of Cyprus. It does not include travelers who arrive and depart illegally via ports and airports in the occupied part of Cyprus.

The weighting was conducted based on the data sent to the Statistical Service by the Civil Aviation Department and from the ship manifests, as well as on the data sent by the Analysis and Statistics Office of the Cyprus Police.

For more information:

CYSTAT Portal, subtheme Tourism, CYSTAT-DB (Online Database), Predefined Tables (Excel), Methodological Information

Contact:

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

(NG/SCH)