The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the death of several industries and business, and the Cyprus tourism industry is no exception. As a result of the nationwide lockdown that been put in place to curb the spread of the pandemic, tourist arrivals in the island nation has fallen manifold.
According to statistics, the percentage of tourist arrivals has fallen by a record-breaking 67.4% – going down from 169,934 in March 2019, to 55,342 in March 2020.
This is due to the lockdown that has been imposed from 15 March. It includes bans on entry and exit to the country for all residents and non-residents, including tourists. This led to the number of tourist arrivals falling by leaps and bounds.
Arrivals from the UK fell by a record 70.2% in March 2020 (as opposed to the same time last year), while that from Russia and Greece declined by 60.8% and 66.6% respectively.
This has been a very bad news for the country’s economy, especially after it enjoyed a record 3.97 million visitors in 2019.
