Tourist arrivals in Cyprus during 2021 increased by 206.7% compared to 2020, according to data released Thursday by the Statistical Service of Cyprus. However, the arrivals decreased by 51.3% compared to 2019, which was historically the best year for Cyprus tourism.

For the period of January – December 2021, arrivals of tourists were 1,936,931 compared to 631,609 in the corresponding period of 2020, recording an increase of 206.7%, and a decrease of 51.3% compared to the period of January – December 2019 (3,976,777 arrivals).

The arrivals of tourists reached 96,928 in December 2021 compared to 9,682 in December 2020 and to 110,330 tourist arrivals in December 2019.

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were the main source of tourism for December 2021, with a share of 19.8% (19,199) of total arrivals, followed by Greece with 12.8% (12,420), Russia with 9.5% (9,234), Poland with 7.2% (6,989), Germany with 6.8% (6,618) and Ukraine with 6.4% (6,169).
                                                                                                             
For a percentage of 61.5% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in December 2021 was holidays, for 29.0% visit to friends and relatives and for 9.5% business. Respectively, in December 2020, 25.6% of tourists visited Cyprus for holidays, 51.8% visited friends or relatives and 22.6% visited Cyprus for business reasons.