2025 has been a very successful year for the tourism industry, Deputy Minister of Tourism Costas Koumis said on Sunday, adding that the island saw a new record of arrivals from the German market after 28 years.

“The German market has been for years the largest market in the world in relation to outbound tourism,” he told journalists while visiting the Christmas market in Statos-Ayios Fotios in Paphos.

He said that for Cyprus, Germany was a small market and that the best performance of the German market was, until recently, the 250,000 arrivals recorded in the distant 1997.

“This year we broke the record of the German market for the first time,” he said, adding that “we essentially have a new performance after 28 years and it is a market that interests us the most and we have proceeded in cooperation with the special sector in a series of actions, to increase even more”.

Koumis highlighted as very important the fact that the air connections between Germany and both airports of Cyprus is improving, while underlining that “the most important thing is that German visitors are visitors who like to visit various areas of our country”.

He said that the deputy ministry of tourism is very interested to see the benefits of tourism spread throughout the length and breadth of Cyprus.

“In my opinion, 2025 will go down in history as a year when Cyprus’ tourism distinguished itself on a pan-European level,” he added.

The year saw a significant increase in arrivals, growing by 12 per cent compared to the previous year and 40 per cent over three years. “We have exceeded all precedents in relation to tourism revenues,” he added.

On a pan-European level, he said the Aviation Council International report put Cyprus in first place in improving air connectivity in 2025 compared to 2024. It is also in second place for the improving air connectivity between 2019 and 2025, while it is in first place in relation to the increase in revenues for the first half of the year, among the Mediterranean countries.

According to the report, Cyprus also had the largest increase in overnight stays in tourist accommodation comparing 2024 to 2023.

“For us as a government, the most important thing is that the tourism businesses of our country have recorded another very successful year, a year that gives them the right to acquire coveted economic resilience,” he concluded.