Press Releases

Tourist Arrivals -2.9% and Returns of Residents of Cyprus +12.3%

Tourist Arrivals

The arrivals of tourists reached 87,961 in January 2024 compared to 90,549 in January 2023, recording a decrease of 2.9%.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for January 2024, with a share of 18.6% (16,321) of total arrivals, followed by Poland with 18.2% (15,978) and Greece with 11.8% (10,384).

For a percentage of 60.8% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in January 2024 was holidays, for 21.2% visit to friends and relatives and for 17.2% business. Respectively, in January 2023, 64.8% of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 21.4% visited friends or relatives and 13.4% visited Cyprus for business reasons (Table).

Returns of Residents of Cyprus

A total number of 153,499 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in January 2024 compared to 136,717 in the corresponding month last year, recording an increase of 12.3%.

The main countries from which residents of Cyprus returned in January 2024 were Greece with a share of 30.5% (46,837), the United Kingdom with 11.9% (18,334), Poland with 4.3% (6,525) and Russia with 4.1% (6,241).

The purpose of travel for the residents of Cyprus in January 2024 was mainly holidays, with a percentage of 85.7%, whilst business reasons held a percentage of 11.7%, studies 1.6% and other reasons 1.0%.

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.

Residents of Cyprus:This category includes persons who have resided in Cyprus for at least 12 months or who have come to Cyprus with the intention of staying for at least 12 months, prior to their travel.

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 travellers 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 visit the CYSTAT Portal, subtheme Tourism, CYSTAT-DB (Online Database), Predefined Tables (Excel), Methodological Information or contact Ms Lucy Panayidou at 22602152 or via email at lpanagidou@cystat.mof.gov.cy.

(MS/NGian)