Cyprus tourism partially recovers in May

Tourism arrivals in Cyprus in May increased significantly compared to the same month last year; however, they were still lower compared to May 2019, and with obvious losses from the Russian and Ukrainian markets.

According to the Statistical Service of Cyprus (CyStat), visitor arrivals reached 315,018 in May 2022, compared to 100,852 recorded in May 2021. However, these arrivals were still 119,560 fewer compared to May 2019, which was the last May with no travel restrictions due to Covid-19. In May 2019, tourism arrivals had reached 434,578, of whom 104,221 came from Russia and Ukraine.

On the contrary, arrivals from the United Kingdom have recovered and were the main source of tourism in Cyprus last month and made up a share of 40.1% (126,324) of total arrivals. In May 2019, arrivals from the United Kingdom had reached 156,820. No other market seems to have made a significant contribution to tourist arrivals; however, there was an increase in arrivals from Poland, which had a share of 7.4% (23,197) of total arrivals, when in May 2019 arrivals from that country had only come to 10,427.

In May 2022, 6.9% (21,749) of total tourism arrivals were from Israel, 6.5% (20,592) from Germany, 5.1% (15,943) from Sweden and 4.4% (13,905) from Greece.

For the January-May 2022 period, tourism arrivals reached 849,058 compared to 156,825 in the corresponding period of 2021, 246,556 in 2020 and 1,121,361 in 2019.

For a percentage of 79.5% of visitors, the purpose of their trip in May 2022 was holidays, 12.5% were visiting friends and relatives and 7.9% were traveling on business. Respectively, in May 2021, 80.7% of visitors had traveled to Cyprus for holidays, 9.8% were visiting friends or relatives and 9.4% were in Cyprus for business reasons.

According to CyStat data, a total number of 135,661 Cyprus residents returned from a trip abroad in May 2022, compared to 23,251 in the same month last year, recording an increase of 483.5%.

In May 2019, which was the last May with no travel restrictions due to Covid-19, the number of Cyprus residents who traveled abroad reached 141,709.

The main countries from which Cyprus residents returned in May 2022 were the United Kingdom with 25.3%, Greece with 25.0%, Germany with 4.7% and Italy with 4.6%.