January-August tourist arrivals reach 2.65 mln

Annual tourist arrivals in Cyprus in the eight months to August increased 24.5% to 2.65 million compared with the same period of last year.

According to data by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat), tourist arrivals in August alone were 511,387, down by 2.30% from July 2023, while compared with August of last year, arrivals marked an increase of 13.4%.

Despite losing the Russian market in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine and the ensuing Western sanctions against Moscow, tourist arrivals reached 97% of 2019, Cyprus’ all-time tourist record (3.97 mln).

Russia was traditionally Cyprus’ second largest tourist market behind the United Kingdom.

Arrivals from the UK were the main source of tourism for August, with a share of 35.9% (183,642), followed by Israel with 14.9% (76,130), Poland with 5.8% (29,495), Germany with 4.5% (23,178) and Sweden with 3.6% (18,218).

Residents travel abroad

A total of 199,920 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in August compared to 153,563 in the same month last year, recording an increase of 30.2%.

Greece topped the list of destinations with a share of 40.4% or 80,713, followed by the United Kingdom with 5.7% or 11,329 people, Italy with 5.3% (10,516), France with 3.7% (7,389) and Russia with 3.2% (6,490).