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The arrivals of tourists reached 9.682 in December 2020 compared to 110.330 in December 2019, recording a decrease of 91,2%.

For the period of January – December 2020, arrivals of tourists totaled 631.609 compared to 3.976.777 in the corresponding period of 2019, recording a decrease of 84,1% (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 arrivals from specific countries, according to a categorization by the Ministry of Health, based on their epidemiological risk assessment.

Analysis of changes

Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom decreased by 91,1% in December 2020 compared to December 2019, while a decrease of 73,8% was also recorded for tourists from Greece and 81,2% decrease from Germany. Percentage changes for these main countries from one year to the next, are presented in Table 1.

Purpose of visit

For a percentage of 25,6% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in December 2020 was holidays, for 51,8% visit to friends and relatives and for 22,6% 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 December 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 visit theStatistical Service (CYSTAT) website, subtheme Tourism or contact Ms Lucy Panayidou: tel.:+35722602152, e-mail: lpanagidou@cystat.mof.gov.cy

(EK/SCH)