COVID19: Cyprus tourism dives 67% amid March lockdown

Tourist arrivals in Cyprus crashed in March following a lockdown to contain the COVID-19 pandemic which involved a ban on all commercial flights that is still enforced.

According to official data, arrivals of tourists reached 55,342 in March 2020 compared to 169,934 in March 2019, recording a drop of 67.4%.

From 15 March, an entry ban in the Republic was imposed on non-residents, including tourists, as part of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus outbreak in Cyprus.

For the three-month period of January – March, tourist arrivals reached 246,556 from 357,475 in the same period of 2019, recording a drop of 31%

Annual tourist arrivals from its biggest market the United Kingdom plunged 70.2% in March from 2019, while a drop of 60.8% was recorded in tourists from Russia and a 66.6% decrease from Greece.

The UK constituted the main source of tourists for Cyprus in March, with a proportion of 34.1%, while arrivals from Russia comprised 17.7% of total arrivals, Greece 8.4% and Israel 4.1%.

Cyprus enjoyed a record 3.97 mln visitors last year but will struggle to get a third of this number as hotels still remain shut and the peak summer season has been written off.