Tourist arrivals jump 18.5%

A significant annual increase of 18.5% was recorded in tourist arrivals last month, with UK visitors leading the way, according to Cyprus’ Statistical Service.

The arrivals of tourists reached 342,736 in April compared to 289,335 in April 2022.

For the four months of January – April, arrivals of tourists totalled 736,629, up from 534,040 in the same last year, recording an increase of 37.9%.

At this rate, Cyprus should break the million-tourist barrier in May before the busy summer season.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism with a share of 36.3% (124,455) of total arrivals, followed by Israel with 9.9% (34,069), Poland and Germany with 6.7% (23,063 and 23,038 respectively) and Greece 6.2% (21,184).

Tourist arrivals hit 3.2 mln last year, despite Cyprus losing 800,000 Russian and Ukrainian tourists due to the war.

Visitor arrivals spiked 65% in 2022 after COVID-19 travel rules were dropped.

Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing EU sanctions, Cyprus was deprived of 800,000 arrivals, but tourism recovered to around 80% of pre-pandemic levels.

The island is around 700,000 tourists short of the record year 2019 when arrivals peaked at 3.9 million.

Some 79.3% of visitors said the purpose of their trip in April was holidays, 14.5% visited friends and relatives and 6.0% business.

Trips abroad

A total of 135,659 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in April compared to 81,062 in the same month last year, recording an increase of 67.4%.

The main countries from which residents returned were Greece with a share of 34.0% (46,086), the UK with 8.5% (11,482), France with 4.2% (5,664), Italy with 3.7% (4,962) and Hungary with 3.6% (4,886).

The purpose of travel for the residents of Cyprus in April was mainly holidays, with 70.7%, whilst business reasons were 20.1%, studies 7.2% and other reasons 2.1%.