January tourist arrivals record massive rise, UK leads the way

Tourist arrivals to Cyprus amounted to 90,549 visitors in January 2023, compared with 43,944  during the same month of 2022, marking an increase of 106.1 per cent year-on-year, according to a report released on Friday by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat).

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for January 2023, accounting for 20.6 per cent of all arrivals, with 18,631 visitors in total.

The UK was followed by arrivals from Israel with a percentage of 16.6 per cent and 14,991 visitors, Poland with 12.3 per cent and 11,166 visitors, and Greece with 11.6 per cent and  10,459 visitors.

According to the published data, the purpose of travel for 64.8 per cent of visitors in January 2023 was vacation, followed by 21.4 per cent of visitors who came to Cyprus to see friends or relatives.

In addition, 13.4 per cent of international visitors came to Cyprus for business.

In January 2022, 57.5 per cent of visitors came to Cyprus for holidays, 22.3 per cent to visit friends or relatives and 20.2 per cent for business purposes.

Meanwhile, according to a separate report by the Statistical Service, Cypriot residents’ trips abroad amounted to 136,717  in January of 2023, compared to 48,382 trips in January 2022, marking an increase of 182.6 per cent year-on-year.

The main countries from which Cypriots returned in January 2023 were Greece with 32.9 per cent, a total of 44,937 arrivals and the United Kingdom with 12.9 per cent, a total of 17,622 arrivals.

These were followed by Cypriot residents returning from Poland, with 5,848 and Bulgaria with 5,256, with both countries accounting for approximately 4 per cent of all arrivals.