Coronavirus: June showed improvement for foreign travel

A total of 35,361 residents in Cyprus boarded a flight from the island to go abroad in June 2021, an increase of over 200 per cent compared to the same month last year, when only 11,726 people flew out from the island.

A report from the Statistical Service published on Monday also said that the main destination was Greece, where 46.1 per cent of people flew, followed by the UK (9.9 per cent) and Russia (5.5 per cent).

The Statistical Service said the data was obtained from information gathered on the Cyprus Flight Pass, that all passengers must fill in before boarding a plane.

O the other hand, in June 2021, a total of 184,159 tourists arrived from abroad, compared to 9,119 in June 2020, when the measures in place to contain the spread of Covid-19 were very strict.

However, compared to June 2019, 63.9 per cent fewer people from abroad arrived in the island last month. Two years ago in the same period, the island welcomed a whopping 509,662 foreign visitors.

The most arrivals from abroad in June 2021 were from Russia, accounting for 45.8 per cent (84,400 people) of total arrivals, while arrivals from Israel accounted for 7.4 per cent (13. 553), arrivals from Ukraine for 6.5 per cent (11,991), arrivals from Greece for 5.5 per cent (10,209) and arrivals from the United Kingdom, traditionally the biggest market for Cyprus, for 4.2 per cent (7,700).