Cyprus Business Now

Tourist arrivals reached 391,638 in October 2021, reflecting an increase of 288.6 per cent year-on-year, according to data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) on Friday.

Tourist arrivals in October of the previous stood at 100,791 visitors, while 436,509 tourists visited Cyprus in October of 2019.

For the period between January and October of this year, tourist arrivals came up to a total of 1.691,030 million tourists.

This represents an increase of 175.9 per cent year-on-year, with the corresponding figure from last year being 612,975 tourists.

However, this is still 54.3 per cent down on 2019’s figure of 3.697,055 million tourist arrivals.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for October 2021, with a share of 31.8 per cent (124,501) of total arrivals.

The UK was followed by Russia with 19.6 per cent (76,613), Germany with 7.1 per cent (27,623), Poland with 4.1 per cent (16,154), Greece with 4 per cent (15,669) and Ukraine with 3.9 per cent (15,254).

The acquisition of Apollonion Private Hospital in Nicosia by Hellenic Healthcare Group, an entity controlled in its majority by funds advised by CVC Capital Partners, is nearing completion, although a specific timeline has not been provided as of yet.

According to Cypriot media outlet InBusiness, the acquisition is still pending the signing of certain documents by the stakeholders, as well as the approval of the Commission for the Protection of Competition.

“The forms have been submitted to the commission for the Protection of Competition by the buyer, as well as some information that has been requested,” Apollonion general manager Leonidas Ieronymides told InBusiness on Friday.

“Beyond that, we can not know how much time it will take,” he added.

Foreign trips by Cypriots came up to a total of 64,547 during October of 2021, a 273.2 per cent increase year-on-year, the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat) said on Friday.

According to the Cystat report, this is still 48.3 per cent down on the equivalent month in 2019.

The main countries from which Cypriots returned during October of this year include Greece (42 per cent), the United Kingdom (10.4 per cent), Italy (5.8 per cent) and Russia (4.1 per cent).

Cystat specified that the data for October used Cyprus Flight Pass information, while no further analysis was feasible due to issues during passengers’ manual data entry process.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) ended Friday, November 19 with profits.

The main Cyprus Stock Market Index was at 67.85 points by 12:22 during the day, reflecting an increase of 0.18 per cent over the previous day.

The FTSE / CySE 20 Index was at 40.57 points, representing an increase of 0.15 per cent. The total value of transactions came up to €85,501.

In terms of sub-indexes, the main index rose by 0.19 per cent, while the investment firm and alternative indexes fell by 1.86 per cent and 0.26 per cent respectively.

The biggest investment interest was attracted by Vassiliko Cement Works (-0.75 per cent), Hellenic Bank (no change), Bank of Cyprus Holdings (+1.85 per cent), Cyprus Cement (-0.95 per cent), and Tsokkos Hotels (-6.25 per cent).