COVID19: Cyprus tourism revenue slumps 86%

Cyprus tourism revenue for the first 9 months of the year dived 86% from the same period in 2019 due to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic.

A mixture of national lockdowns, quarantine and travel restrictions has decimated the island’s tourism industry which generated €2.68 bln last year on record 3.97 million tourist arrivals.

In September alone, income from tourism plunged 83.2% reaching €63.3 mln compared to €377.2 mln in the same month last year.

For the nine months January to September, tourism receipts are estimated at €298.9 mln, an 86.6% drop from €2.23 bln generated in the same period of 2019.

In September, expenditure per person was estimated at €725.16, remaining at the same level as in the same month last year.

The daily expenditure per person for September compared to a year ago recorded a decrease of 27.1% from €78.99 to €57.55.

The average length of stay for visitors in September was 12.6 days up from 9.1 days last year.

Tourism was badly affected following measures taken by Cyprus to contain the spread of COVID-19, including the ban on commercial flights from March to early June.