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The arrivals of tourists reached 8.811 in March 2021, recording a decrease of 84,1% compared to March 2020 (during which 55.342 arrivals were recorded), and a decrease of 94,8% compared to March 2019 (with 169.934 arrivals). For the period of January – March 2021, arrivals of tourists totaled 17.747 compared to 246.556 in the corresponding period of 2020, recording a decrease of 92,8%, as well as a decrease of 95,0% compared to the period of January – March 2019.

Arrivals from Greece were the main source of tourism for the month of March 2021, with a share of 32,2% of total arrivals, followed by France with 10,6% and Germany with 10,5%.                                                                                                

For a percentage of 25,2% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in March 2021 was holidays, for 35,2% visit to friends and relatives and for 39,4% business. Respectively, in March 2020, 71,7% of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 14,7% visited friends or relatives and 13,5% visited Cyprus for business reasons.

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 March 2021 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

(ΙΚ/ECHR)