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A total of 184.159 tourist arrivals were recorded in June 2021, compared to 9.119 in June 2020, a period during which measures were implemented to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Cyprus. According to these measures, there was a ban of entry to the Republic on several categories of persons, including tourists, up to 8/6/2020. As compared to June 2019 (when 509.662 arrivals were recorded), there was a decrease of 63,9%.

For the period of January – June 2021, arrivals of tourists totaled 340.984 compared to 255.675 in the corresponding period of 2020, recording an increase of 33,4%, and a decrease of 79,1% compared to the period of January – June 2019 (1.631.023 arrivals).

Arrivals from Russia were the main source of tourism for June 2021, with a share of 45,8% (84.400) of total arrivals, followed by Israel with 7,4% (13.553), Ukraine with 6,5% (11.991), Greece with 5,5% (10.209), Poland with 5,0% (9.260) and the United Kingdom with 4,2% (7.700).

For a percentage of 82,8% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in June 2021 was holidays, for 10,9% visit to friends and relatives and for 6,3% business. Respectively, in June 2020, 42,6% of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 28,0% visited friends or relatives and 29,4% 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 June 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

(NG/ECHR)