April tourist arrivals up on last year but way down on 2019

Cyprus welcomed 38,226 visitors in April 2021, compared to zero arrivals recorded in the same month the previous year when airports were closed to tourists as part of measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, but sharply down on April 2019, the statistical service said on Monday.

Tourism arrivals in April 2019 had hit a historic high of 329,308. In comparison, last month’s arrivals plunged on that by 88.4 per cent.

The main source of tourism in April 2021 was Russia (41.7 per cent or 15,935 people), followed by Greece with 12.8 per cent (4,900) and Israel with 12.6 per cent (4,824).

For the period of January-April 2021, arrivals of tourists totalled 55,973 compared to 246,556 in the corresponding period of 2020, recording a decrease of 77.3 per cent.

Arrivals were down 91.8 per cent compared to the period of January-April 2019 (686,783 arrivals).

For a percentage of 61.7 per cent of tourists, the purpose of their trip in April 2021 was holidays, for 21.3 per cent visit to friends and relatives and for 16.9 per cent business. Respectively, in April 2019, 78 per cent of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 14.3 per cent visited friends or relatives and 7.3 per cent visited Cyprus for business reasons.