Tourist arrivals to Cyprus reached 3,201,080 people in 2022, compared to 1,936,931 in 2021, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat).
Despite the uptick over the year before, tourist arrivals still lagged behind those recorded in 2019, a year unhindered by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the more recent adverse economic conditions, when they had amounted to 3,976,777 visitors.
Furthermore, according to the report, tourist arrivals amounted to 110,041 people in December 2022, compared to 96,928 in December 2021, marking an increase of 13.5 per cent.
Between January and December 2020, a period blighted by the pandemic and the resulting restrictive measures, tourist arrivals were limited to a scant 631,609 people, suffering an 84 per cent decline over those recorded in 2019.
In December 2022, arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for Cyprus, accounting for 24.3 per cent of total arrivals, with 26,708 Britons travelling to the island during this time.
What is more, arrivals from Israel accounted for 17.1 per cent, with 18,801 people, followed by arrivals from Greece, which accounted for 11 per cent, 12,055 people.
Arrivals from Poland made up for 8.5 per cent of all arrivals, with 9,316 people, followed by those from Germany with 4.5 per cent, a figure of 4,976 visitors.
Meanwhile, according to the report, vacations were the primary purpose of travel in December 2022, with 61.9 per cent of tourists visiting Cyprus for that reason.
In addition, 27.4 per cent travelled to Cyprus to visit friends or relatives, while 10.4 per cent of arrivals came to Cyprus for business reasons.
For comparison, 61.5 per cent of arrivals in December 2021 visited Cyprus for holidays, 29.0 per cent to visit friends or relatives, while 9.5 per cent of arrivals travelled to Cyprus for business reasons.
