Impressive increase in tourism in 2021 compared to 2020

An impressive increase of 206,7% was recorded in 2021 by tourist arrivals, compared to 2020, while a decrease of 51% was recorded compared to 2019, due to the significant restrictive measures to deal with the covid-19 pandemic.

According to the Statistical Service, for the period January - December 2021, tourist arrivals amounted to 1.936.931 compared to 631.609 in the corresponding period of 2020, recording an increase of 206,7% and a decrease of 51,3% compared to the period January - December 2019 (3.976.777 arrivals).

It is noted that the revenues from tourism for the period January - October 2021, which are available, showed an increase of 260,2% compared to the corresponding period of 2020 and a decrease of 46,5% compared to the corresponding period of 2019.

Moreover, according to the Statistical Service, tourist arrivals in December 2021 amounted to 96.928 compared to 9.682 recorded in December 2020, as well as 110.330 arrivals recorded in December 2019.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for December 2021, accounting for 19,8% (19.199) of total arrivals, arrivals from Greece 12,8% (12.420), arrivals from Russia 9,5% (9.234), arrivals from Poland 7,2% (6.989), arrivals from Germany 6,8% (6.618) and arrivals from Ukraine 6,4% (6.169) .

According to the Statistical Service, the purpose of travel in December 2021 was for a percentage of 61,5% of tourists holidays, for 29,0% a visit to friends or relatives and for a percentage of 9,5% business.

Respectively, for December 2020, 25,6% visited Cyprus for holidays, 51,8% for visiting friends or relatives and 22,6% for business reasons.