Cyprus tourism revenue plunges 90%

Cyprus tourism revenue in July plummeted 89.9% to €42.5 mln from €422 mln in the same month last year due to travel restrictions to stem the pandemic.

The outlook was no better for the six months January to July when income from tourism dipped 88.5% to €164.5 mln from €1.42 bln in the same period of 2019,  according to the Statistical Service.

Expenditure per person for July reached €654.06 compared to €765.84 in the same month last year, recording a 14.6% decrease.

Daily expenditure per person for July 2020 decreased 45.5% from €80.61 to €43.90, this is mainly attributed to the increase in the average length of stay by 56.8%, from 9.5 days in July 2019 to 14.9 days in July 2020.

Cyprus only began accepting a restricted number of passengers from June 9 after banning commercial flights in March.

Income generated from tourism contributes around 15% to GDP, the picture will be a lot different for 2020.

Revenue from tourism generated €2.68 bln in 2019, down 1% from the previous year, bolstered by record arrivals of 3.97 million.