Though not big spenders, Cypriots represent Greece’s eighth biggest tourist market and account for some €465 m in tourism revenue or 2.6% of the total revenue from incoming tourism, Demetra Landou reports for Phileleftheros.
She said that even though costlier airline tickets last year put a small brake on Cypriots’ trips to Greece, the Greek islands remained a favourite tourist destination.
On average Cypriots spend €581 per capita in Greece.
According to a study by INSETE (the institute of the Association of Greek Tourism Companies) on incoming tourism in the age of Covid-19, Greece is popular among Cypriots particularly as a Sun and Sea and city break destination.
Greece’s biggest markets traditional are Germany, the UK, the US, France, Italy and Netherlands.
Cypriots last year generated €465 m in tourism revenue for Greece — 2.6% of the total from incoming tourism.
The average expenditure per overnight stay last year was €64 and the average per capita expenditure was €581.
Cypriots are not big spenders compared to visitors such as the Germans who spent an average of €735 and the French €649. The biggest spenders were the Americans with €1,008 on average per capita.
According to the study last year, 26% of Cypriot tourists’ spending in Greece was in the second quarter and 39% in the third quarter. As regards arrivals, 28% were in the second quarter, 37% in the third quarter. For overnight stays, 23% were in the second quarter and 33% in the third quarter.
Last year, trips to Greece from Cyprus were down by 15.% in August and 8.7% in July, but up 10.2% and 5.6% in May and June respectively.
The best years for Cypriot’ holiday trips to Greece were 2014 (up an annual 25.5%) and 2016 (up an annual 15.7%.)
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