53% More Tourist Arrivals Recorded in Cyprus So Far This Year
The summer season in Cyprus has exceeded 2021 levels, reaching 454,657 tourist arrivals in July, up from 297,308 recorded in the corresponding time last year.
According to the Interior Ministry, 1.6 million tourist arrivals had reached Cyprus during the first half of the year (January to July 2022), 162.5 per cent more than in 2021, when 638,292 arrivals were recorded, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Apart from that, the number of tourists in 2022 has reached about 76 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, 1.6 million out of 2.1 million recorded in 2019. Furthermore, 422.7 per cent more tourists or 1.3 million tourists, more than in 2020, when COVID-19 travel restrictions were imposed by the government, and only 320,589 tourists visited Cyprus.
As of July, 454,667 tourists were recorded in Cyprus, and the main countries of origin remain similar to the previous season – the majority of tourists were recorded from the United Kingdom, representing 38.2 per cent of all arrivals or 173,874 tourists recorded in July alone.
Other countries of origin include Israel (38,269), Poland (21,285) and Germany (21,280), representing 8.4 per cent and 4.7 per cent of the total arrivals, respectively. About 19,732 tourists came from Sweden (4.3 per cent of the total) and 15,450 from Greece, representing 3.4 per cent of the total.
Holidays are the main purpose of visit for the majority of tourists – 85 per cent of those. While 12.2 per cent listed visits to friends and relatives and 2.8 per cent business as their main drive for the visit to Cyprus in July 2022.
“For a percentage of 84.9 per cent of tourists, the purpose of their trip in July 2022 was holidays, for 12.2 per cent visit to friends and relatives and for 2.8 per cent business. Respectively, in July 2021, 85 per cent of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 11.3 per cent visited friends or relatives, and 3.7 per cent visited Cyprus for business reasons,” the press release issued by the Interior Ministry explains.
Cyprus will most likely surpass its own expectations of receiving two million tourists in 2022, as the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Savvas Perdios, revealed in May of 2022.
More specifically, Cyprus has welcomed over 1.6 million tourists so far this year, with the summer season, which is the highlight of the tourism season, ending in mid-October, which means there are another two months left for holidaymakers.
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