Cyprus short-term rental market sees summer stays jump fivefold

Cyprus recorded 1,013,843 guest nights in short-term rental accommodation booked through online platforms in the first quarter of 2026, according to Eurostat data covering stays arranged through platforms including Airbnb, Booking and Expedia.

The figure covers January to March and reflects Cyprus’ status as a single statistical region because of the country’s small size compared to most other EU member states.

Eurostat published the figures on Friday as part of its latest data on short-stay accommodation offered through online platforms, with national data available for the second quarter of 2026 and regional data for the first quarter.

The data showed that 258.8 million nights were spent across the European Union between April and June 2026, representing an increase of 5.3 per cent, or 13.1 million nights, compared with the second quarter of 2025.

Compared with the second quarter of 2024, the number of nights spent in EU short-term rental accommodation was 23.9 per cent higher, equivalent to an increase of 50.0 million nights.

At regional level, Cyprus was counted as a single region, meaning its 1,013,843 guest nights for the first quarter represent the total for the country.

The most popular EU regions for online-platform short-term rentals during the first quarter were Canarias in Spain and Rhone-Alpes in France, with 8.8 million nights each.

Andalucia in Spain followed with 8.3 million nights, the European statistical office added.

Five of the 10 most popular regions were in Spain, while three were in France and two were in Italy, underlining the continued concentration of online-platform tourism in some of Europe’s major coastal and mountain destinations.

The Cyprus figures also show the strong seasonal pattern of short-term rental activity during 2025, with demand building sharply from spring and reaching its highest point during the summer.

In January 2025, 222,122 nights were spent in short-stay accommodation booked through online platforms in Cyprus.

The figure increased to 263,364 nights in February and 343,422 nights in March. Activity then accelerated in April, when the number of nights reached 573,088.

May recorded 606,285 nights booked through online platforms in Cyprus, followed by 810,972 in June, the report added.

The number of nights surpassed one million in July, reaching 1,012,149, before rising to the annual peak of 1,164,444 nights in August.

Demand eased after the summer, with 927,909 nights recorded in September and 892,306 in October.

The figure fell to 418,072 nights in November and ended the year at 401,147 nights in December.

The monthly pattern highlights the pronounced seasonality of Cyprus’ short-term rental market, with guest nights in August more than five times the level recorded in January 2025.

Eurostat’s figures cover short-stay accommodation offered through online platforms and provide data on the number of nights spent in properties booked through the participating platforms.

The latest release therefore provides both a national picture of platform-based accommodation during the second quarter of 2026 and a regional breakdown for the first quarter, allowing Cyprus to be compared with individual regions elsewhere in the EU despite being treated as one region in the statistical classification.