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On the basis of the results of the passengers survey, arrivals of tourists reached 434.578 in May 2019 compared to 450.495 in May 2018, recording a decrease of 3,5%.

For the period of January – May 2019, arrivals of tourists reached 1.121.361 compared to 1.134.076 in the corresponding period of 2018, recording a decrease of 1,1% (Table 1).

Analysis of changes

Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom decreased by 2,6% in May 2019 compared to May 2018 and a decrease of 5,4% was recorded for tourists from Russia. An increase of 7,8% in tourist arrivals from Sweden and 9,6% from Israel was recorded. Percentage changes from one year to the next for the main countries of usual residence of tourists are presented in Table 1.

Main countries

The United Kingdom constitutes the main source of tourism for Cyprus in May 2019, with a proportion of 36,1%, while arrivals from Russia comprise 21,7% of total arrivals and from Israel and Greece 5,0% (Table 2).                                                                                    Purpose of visit

For a percentage of 82,8% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in May 2019 was for holidays, for 10,2% for visit to friends and relatives and for 7,0% for business (Table 3)

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 trip during the reference period.

Source of data and coverage

The data is obtained by the passengers survey which is conducted in the arrival and departure halls in the airports of Larnaka and Pafos, as well as by administrative sources such as the monthly arrivals at ports.

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

(EK)