Cyprus air arrivals soar during March

Tourism arrivals in Cyprus skyrocketed in March 2022, compared to the same month of 2021 and 2020, when lockdowns and stricter measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 were in place.

According to data released on Thursday by the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CyStat), tourist arrivals reached 128,840 in March 2022 compared to 8,811 in March 2021 and 55,342 in March 2020.

For the period of January-March 2022, tourist arrivals totaled 244,705, compared to 17,747 in the corresponding period of 2021, 246,556 during the period of January-March 2020, and 357,475 in the period of January-March 2019.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism on Cyprus in March 2022, with a share of 34.8% (44,829) of total arrivals, followed by Greece with 9.9% (12,810), Israel with 8.6% (11,122), Germany with 8.2% (10,592) and Poland with 7.6% (9,805).

For 71.9% of people arriving in Cyprus in March, the purpose of their trip was for holidays, for 16.3% were visiting friends and relatives and 11.8% were on business. Respectively, in March 2021, 25.2% of visitors came to Cyprus for holidays, 35.2% were visiting friends or relatives and 39.4% were visiting for business reasons.

Cyprus is already one of the countries fully on board with the transition toward a sustainable and smart tourist destination, Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios said on Thursday, addressing a conference hosted by the Paphos Regional Board of Tourism.

He referred to the five pillars on which Cyprus’ tourism strategy up to 2030 is based: converting Cyprus into a year-round destination, offering higher quality services, being climate friendly, turning into a digital and smart destination, and ensuring all residents can benefit from tourism.

Meanwhile, a total of 59,918 Cyprus residents returned from a trip abroad in March, compared to 13,289 in the corresponding month last year, recording an increase of 350.9%, according to CyStat. An increase of 26.4% was also recorded compared to March 2020.

The main countries from which Cyprus residents returned in March 2022 were Greece with 35.4%, the United Kingdom with 17.9% and Bulgaria with 3.2%.

The statistics for March 2022 were obtained from processing the data of the electronic platform “Cyprus Flight Pass.”