Somewhere in Britain, right now, there’s a 40-something woman looking at Cyprus.

She’s sitting at her laptop in Lincolnshire, or London, or Leeds. It’s raining outside, and she’s counting down to the annual family holiday.

This summer, she’s plumped for Paphos. Because last year, in Marbella, the kids were bored out of their minds by day two. Despite the waterpark.

She’s slightly worried though. Because while her husband would be perfectly happy to spend the entire vacation slumped on a sun-lounger, scrutinising Swedes from under his sunhat, she needs something more – something the tourist sites are not suggesting.

So she trawls Reddit and Facebook. Start threads and asks questions. Because she’s damned if she’s going to spend every day entertaining the kids and every evening fending off her amorous partner. This is HER holiday too. 

It’s an amusing picture. But likely true. According to the latest research, 82 per cent of all travel decisions are made by women. And, by 2028, women will control 75 per cent of discretionary spending.  

The evidence is there – in Cyprus, it is female British holidaymakers who are now spending the money: an average of £793 per trip; up more than 25 per cent in just a year. And it is women who now shape where the vacation money goes.

This is crucial for Cyprus – because women spend differently. Research across the travel industry shows that female travellers are more likely to prioritise experiences: culture, food, wellbeing, and connection. And they certainly aren’t going all Shirley Valentine for The Island of Love – goodness knows, they haven’t got the time or energy to waste!

For decades, the island sold itself in a very particular way: happy couples gallivanting on beaches, kissing by Aphrodite’s Rock or gazing at a stunning sunset. Cyprus, it was clear, was a place of honeymoons and honeymooners.

But now, something has shifted. Across the industry, as travel moves away towards slower, more meaningful experiences (longer stays, deeper engagement), there’s a desire to connect with a place rather than simply frolick on the shore with a man whose snores have been keeping you awake for a decade.

It’s women, increasingly, who are driving this shift. Women who appreciate a long lunch in Platres that stretches lazily into sketo after sketo. Women who want to drive through Cedar Valley as the light fades, wrapped in the scent of hillside herbs. Women who are eschewing Nissi for the sun-soaked seclusion of a secret beach near Polis, glass sea melting into the silent Mediterranean sky.

The real island. Full of real people, doing real things in real places…

The village bread made by a fourth-generation baker who wakes before sunrise. The roadside kafeneion that asks you to stay all afternoon, and lets the kids play with the chickens out back. The stretch of coast that is wild and wind-swept and offers the best snorkelling on the island.

Next month, our British tourist will arrive.

She’ll know the places she wants to go; the things her kids will actually want to do. She’ll know when she can leave her family on the beach and head off alone to the hills for some much-needed peace.

She’ll know what makes her feel good. And, most importantly, she’s the one who decides where the money goes.

Which leaves Cyprus with a choice: keep selling the same old storied romance, or start showing what people actually want to pay for: the real Cyprus – the Cyprus that’s been right there all along.

Our tourist (and thousands of other women like her) are ready to find it.