In a near-record year for arrivals, tourists spent about €550 mln more last year, compared to 2022, while monthly spending increased by about €17 mln in December, with Austrians topping the chart of big spenders, dishing out €115.87 per day.
Cyprus welcomed just below the all-time record 3.97 mln holidaymakers seen in 2019, as a whopping 3,845,652 tourists exploring the island’s charms from January to December, a 20.1% increase compared to 2022 when 3,201,080 vacationers visited the island.
Based on the results of the monthly Passengers Survey carried out by the statistical service Cystat, revenue from tourism reached €74.3 mln in December 2023 compared to €57.6 mln in the corresponding month of the previous year, an increase of 29.0%.
For the full-year period of January to December 2023, revenue from tourism is estimated at €2,990.6 mln compared to €2,439.2 mln in the corresponding period of 2022, up 22.6%.
The average expenditure per person was €600.79 in December 2023 compared to €523.42 in December 2022, recording an increase of 14.8%.
In December, tourists from the United Kingdom (the largest market with 23.4% of total arrivals) spent on average €56.23 per day, while tourists from Poland (the second largest market with 11.5% of the total) spent on average €69.89. Tourists from Greece (the third largest market with 10.3%), spent on average €39.41 per day.
The biggest spenders came from Austria, spending €115.87 per day or €590.96 per person, replacing tourists from Israel who topped the chart in December 2022 with €110.23 per day, dropping to €95.63 a year later.
Italian tourists spent €86.48 each day, followed by Finland (€77.39) and the Netherlands (€73.76).
Tourists from Switzerland and Denmark were the biggest spenders in Cyprus in November, paying €140.33 and €116.81 per day, respectively, a third more than the daily average expenditure of €80.7, according to official statistics.
Tourists from Finland, Germany and Norway were next, with a daily spend of €106.22, €103.24 and €102.29, respectively.
Swedes stayed longest
For the duration of their stay in December 2023, tourists from Sweden were the biggest spenders at €866.89 per person, and a longer average stay of 21.4 days.
Tourists from the U.K. stayed an average 12.4 days, up from the 11.1 days in November, while tourists from France had the third longest stay at 10.5 days. 
