Higher spends by tourists sees Cyprus exceed pre-pandemic levels in terms of tourism receipts, even though the number of visitors still trails marginally the 2019 level.

The Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus welcomed more than three million tourists between January and November of 2022, exceeding the number of arrivals recorded throughout 2021, says the Cypriot government.

According to data by the Statistical Service of Cyprus, Cystat, a total of 3.09 million tourists arrived in the country during the first 11 months of 2022, which is nearly 68 pc more than 1.8 million tourists recorded in 2021. The rise is even sharper if compared to 2020 levels, when 621,927 arrivals were recorded, which is related to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Another strong hit besides Covid-19 was expected to hit the Cypriot tourism sector in 2022, due to the war in Ukraine and sanctions imposed against Russia. However, the country successfully managed the decrease in Russian tourists, as increased arrivals from EU countries like Poland, Denmark, Germany, France and Hungary, were recorded. Moreover, tourists from European countries have marked historic records in arrivals to Cyprus this year, says Cystat.

Furthermore, the arrivals recorded in January – November 2022 have reached 80 pc of the levels recorded during the same period in 2019, when no Covid-19 restrictions were imposed, and Cyprus witnessed a historic record year in tourist arrivals. Cystat says that the majority of tourists recorded in 2022 came from the United Kingdom, followed by Israel, Greece, Germany and Poland.

Meanwhile, Cyprus’ tourism revenue for the period between January and October 2022 reached 90 pc of those recorded in 2019, despite arrivals reaching 80 pc of those recorded during that year.

According to the report, during the first 10 months of 2022, tourism revenue amounted to Eur 2.28 billion, compared to Eur 2.53 billion in 2019, which is considered a record year in tourism, while revenues have exceeded those of both 2021 and 2020, with Eur 1.35 billion and Eur 376.3 million respectively. What is more, arrivals between January and October 2022 reached 2.94 million passengers, compared to 3.69 million in the same period of 2019.

Based on the results of the Travellers Survey, conducted by the Statistical Service, the income from tourism reached Eur 319.8 million in October 2022, compared to Eur 310.2 million recorded in October 2021, marking an increase of 3.1 pc. Compared to October 2019, when revenues reached Eur 299.4m in 2019, October 2022 saw an increase of 6.8 pc, even though arrivals were down 8.2 pc.