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The arrivals of tourists reached 104.261 in August 2020 compared to 553.845 in August 2019, recording a decrease of 81,2%.

For the period of January – August 2020, arrivals of tourists totaled 424.850 compared to 2.735.839 in the corresponding period of 2019, recording a decrease of 84,5% (Table 1).

It should be noted that in March 2020, a ban of entry to the Republic was imposed on several categories of persons, including tourists, up to 8/6/2020, as part of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Cyprus.As from 9/6/2020, a gradual easing of the travel restrictions to Cyprus was implemented, allowing the arrivals from specific countries, according to a categorisation by the Ministry of Health, based on their epidemiological risk assessment.

Analysis of changes

Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom decreased by 78,3% in August 2020 compared to August 2019, while a decrease of 23,1% was also recorded for tourists from Germany, 3,0% decrease from Poland, 43,8% decrease from Greece, 47,8% decrease from Switzerland and 29,5% from Austria. Percentage changes from one year to the next are presented in Table 1 for these main countries.

Purpose of visit

For a percentage of 78,0% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in August 2020 was holidays, for 17,9% visit to friends and relatives and for 4,1% business (Table 2).

Methodological notes

Definitions

Tourists – Visitors who stay for at least one night in Cyprus.

Tourist arrivals – The term refers to the number of trips and not to the number of persons. This differs in the sense that one person can take more than one trips during the reference period.

Source of data and coverage

The statistics for August 2020 were obtained from processing of the data of the electronic platform “Cyprus Flight Pass”. The passengers aiming to travel to Cyprus were required to submit in the above mentioned platform, information in relation to their flight, their country of residence, the purpose of their visit, as well as other demographic characteristics. This information was used by the Statistical Service, in order to estimate the number of tourist arrivals during the reference period.

The weighting of data was conducted based on the data sent to the Statistical Service by the Civil Aviation Department and from the ship manifests, as well as data sent by the Analysis and Statistics Office of the Cyprus Police.

Due to issues that arose from the self-declared information provided by the passengers, it was not possible to provide a more extensive analysis by country of usual residence.

For more information:

Statistical Service (CYSTAT) Website, subtheme Tourism

Contact

Lucy Panayidou: Tel.:+35722602152, E-mail: lpanagidou@cystat.mof.gov.cy

(ND/II)