Tourist arrivals broke the 4 mln mark last year, up from the previous record set in 2019, with the number of holidaymakers choosing Cyprus for their vacation rising by 5.1% to 4,040,200, from 3,845,652 the previous year.
The island’s transport minister said last month that 2024 was set to see a record 12 mln passengers traveling through the island’s main airports of Larnaca and Paphos.
Income from tourism is also set to record a new high, with the government’s monthly Passengers Survey showing that for the January-October period, revenue from tourism is estimated at €2.983,8 bln compared to €2.802,6 bln in the same period of 2023, an increase of 6.5%.
Cyprus welcomed a record 3.97 million tourists in 2019, smashing the previous record set in 2018 by a slender 1%. Against the odds, Cyprus recovered from airline closures and the collapse of UK tour giant Thomas Cook and increased competition from traditional competitors Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey.
After crashing in the aftermath of the Covid-19 epidemic, the Cyprus tourism industry steadily picked up from 2021 onwards, despite isolation issues, social distancing and strict measures in hotels and restaurants. By 2021, total arrivals were at 75% of the pre-covid record.
According to data from the statistical service Cystat, tourist arrivals in December last year increased for the eighth month in a row and rose to 133,063, up 7.6% year on year.
With the exception of a dip in January and April, 2024 saw an increase in tourist arrivals in the remaining ten months of the year.
Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for December 2024 with a share of 23.7% (31,501 tourists), followed by Israel with 17.4% (23,168), Poland with 9.4% (12,473), Greece with 9.0% (11,969) and Germany at 5.7% of all arrivals, or 7,535.
Cystat said that for of 49.6% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in December 2024 was holidays, for 37.5% it was to visit friends and relatives and 12.7% declared business.
Returns of Residents of Cyprus
A total 168,022 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in December 2024 compared to 153,736 in the corresponding month last year, an increase of 9.3%.
Cyprus residents mainly returned from Greece with a share of 31.2% (52,344), the U.K. with 13.7% (22,995), and Poland with 5.3% (8,956). For 65.7%, the purpose of travel was holidays, business (16.3%), studies (17.6%) and ‘other’ (0.4%).