Cypriot tourism went from nadir to zenith in just six months, recording an impressive turnaround that exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.
Where six months ago the tourism industry was faced with intense uncertainty and ominous forecasts due to the situation in the Middle East, September came to completely turn the tables, breaking every previous record and confirming Cyprus's potential as a top tourist destination.
In fact, tourism's performance last month, as well as in August, contributed greatly to significantly limiting the losses for the first month to a single-digit percentage.
The September record
Specifically, according to data from CySTAT, tourist arrivals in September amounted to 580,889 compared to 570,635 in September 2025, recording an increase of 1.8%.
This is the best performance ever recorded in the country in September, and a decisive role was played by both Israeli tourists, who returned dynamically, and British tourists, although to a lesser extent.
Specifically, arrivals from Britain remained the main source of tourism for another month, accounting for 31.7% (184,345 compared to 179,293 in September 2025) of total arrivals. It is noted that British arrivals were up 2.8% compared to last year.
Furthermore, tourist arrivals from Israel amounted to 105,249 compared to 80,115 last year, recording an increase of 31.3%, while arrivals from Poland amounted to 41,636 compared to 45,019 last year, showing a decrease of 7.5%.
In addition to the British and Israelis, however, there were also increased tourist arrivals from Belgium (3,660), the Czech Republic (7,123), Greece (19,995), Spain (2,236), Ireland (2,210), Latvia (2,201), Slovakia (9,307), Ukraine (5,736), the United Arab Emirates (2,711) and Lebanon (4,166).
The picture nine months into the year
Regarding the January-September period, tourist arrivals amounted to 3,401,538 compared to 3,604,790 in the corresponding period of 2025, recording a decrease of 5.6%.
It is worth noting that this was the second best performance ever recorded in Cyprus during the period in question, a fact that demonstrates that the moves made by the Deputy Ministry of Tourism and tourism organizations after the start of the crisis in the Middle East have paid off to a large extent.
However, an analysis of CySTAT's data shows that out of 52 countries for which there is historical data, only two saw an increase in arrivals in the first nine months compared to last year. These countries are Israel and Belgium.
More specifically, arrivals from Israel amounted to 552,207 compared to 472,489 in the corresponding period last year, recording an increase of 16.9%, while arrivals from Belgium amounted to 22,931 compared to 20,945 in the period January-September 2025, recording an increase of 9.5%.
How did the major tourism players behave?
Regarding the main sources of tourism, it is worth mentioning that arrivals from Britain amounted to 1,087,344 compared to 1,188,118 last year, showing a decrease of 8.5%, while arrivals from Poland amounted to 280,901 compared to 288,784 in the period January-September 2025, showing a decrease of 2.7%.
Arrivals from Germany, moreover, amounted to 184,060 compared to 200,192 last year, recording a decrease of 8%, while arrivals from Greece amounted to 124,001 compared to 131,118 last year, showing a decrease of 4.7%.
Regarding arrivals from Sweden, they amounted to 120,387 in the first nine months compared to 126,055 in the corresponding period last year, showing a decrease of 4.5%.
(Source: InBusinessNews)
