Cyprus has received 115,865 tourists in the first two months of 2022, exceeding the number of arrivals recorded in the corresponding time last year by 1196 per cent.
According to a press release issued by the Cypriot Interior Ministry, the number of visitors recorded this year has another 40 per cent left to reach the pre-pandemic levels, when 191,214 arrivals were recorded.
Moreover, 71,921 tourists came to Cyprus by February 2022, – 1325 per cent more than in the previous year when only 5,047 arrivals were recorded, the authorities have revealed. It is fair to say that the number of tourists has reached 68 per cent of pre-pandemic levels when 105,592 tourists came to visit the Mediterranean country, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Like in previous years, British visitors remain loyal to Cypriot destinations as they made up for the main source of tourism for February, accounting for 25.9 per cent of all arrivals (18,618), followed by Greek tourists with 8,771 arrivals which represent 12.2 per cent of total tourists for the corresponding period.
Russians made up for the third top source market for tourism in February with 5,732 arrivals, accounting for eight per cent of the total. Although data cannot yet reflect sanctions’ impact imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine, Russian tourists are expected to travel less to Cyprus in the following months. This is unfortunate news for Cyprus as every year, hundred thousand Russian tourists visit the island, which is heavily dependent on the tourism industry, where 20 per cent of the country’s GDP comes from.
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In addition, the number of Ukrainian nationals which for the first two months of 2022 was 5,711 (7.9 per cent of all arrivals), will decrease or vanish completely, as the Eastern European country is at war.
Furthermore, tourists from Israel and Poland reached a total of 5,639 and 4,612 arrivals, accounting for 7.8 per cent and 6.4 per cent of all arrivals, respectively.
Breaking down data from the authority, 64 per cent of tourists last month came to Cyprus to spend holidays. For 21.5 per cent the purpose of their trip was visiting friends and relatives and for 14.5 per cent was business. On the other hand, in February 2021, 11.6 per cent of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 35.2 per cent visited for friends, family or relatives and 53.2 per cent reached Cyprus on business grounds.
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