Tourist arrivals down 81.2% in August

The arrivals of tourists in Cyprus reached 104,261 in August 2020 compared to 553,845 in August 2019, recording a decrease of 81.2%, according to data released Thursday by the Statistical Service of Cyprus.

For the period of January – August 2020, arrivals of tourists totaled 424,850 compared to 2,735,839 in the corresponding period of 2019, recording a decrease of 84.5%.

It should be noted that in March 2020, a ban of entry to the Republic was imposed on several categories of persons, including tourists, up to 8/6/2020, as part of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Cyprus. As from 9/6/2020, a gradual easing of travel restrictions to Cyprus was implemented, allowing the arrivals from specific countries, according to a categorisation by the Ministry of Health, based on their epidemiological risk assessment.

Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom decreased by 78.3% in August 2020 compared to August 2019, while a decrease of 23.1% was also recorded for tourists from Germany, 3.0% decrease from Poland, 43.8% decrease from Greece, 47.8% decrease from Switzerland and 29.5% from Austria.

For 78.0% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in August 2020 was holidays, for 17.9% visit to friends and relatives and for 4.1% business.