Arrivals of tourists to Cyprus were only 87,334 in September 2020 compared to 524,707 in September 2019, a decrease of 83.4%.
According to the Cyprus Statistical Service, for the period of January-September 2020, arrivals of tourists totaled 512,184 compared to 3,260,546 in the corresponding period of 2019, which was a decrease of 84.3%.
A ban on entry to the Republic was imposed back in March. The ban included tourists up until June 8, 2020, as part of the measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in Cyprus.
As of June 9, 2020, a gradual easing of the travel restrictions to Cyprus was implemented, which allowed the arrivals from specific countries, according to categorization by the Ministry of Health, based on their epidemiological risk assessment.
This Forbes report lays out the dire situation Cyprus tourism affiliated businesses face if 2021 is half as bad as this year. Cyprus’ revenue from tourism exceeded $4.7 billion in 2019, which is a gigantic sum for an island nation whose GDP is just over $25 billion. Hoteliers, retailers, and the banking system in the country cannot afford another year like this one.