The recovery of the Cypriot tourism industry and the momentum the sector is experiencing, despite the impact of geopolitical developments in the Middle East, in a written statement by Deputy Minister of Tourism Costas Koumis
Citing data from the Statistical Service on tourist arrivals in September, the Deputy Minister emphasizes that this month set a historic record for arrivals, while the decline for the period from January – September 2026 were limited to 5.6% compared to 2025. At the same time, he refers to the effectiveness of the measures taken to support tourism, as well as the plans for 2027.
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Read the Deputy Minister of Tourism’s statement in its entirety:
“The results confirm a very promising trend and the effectiveness of the measures taken by the tourism ecosystem.”
“When last March we, as the Government and as the Deputy Ministry of Tourism, were called upon to address an unprecedented tourism crisis, as a result of geopolitical tensions in the broader Middle East region and the ensuing negative publicity, we set as our primary goal the maintenance of the travel packages offered to our country, knowing full well that, to a large extent, the course of the coming months would depend on this.
Essentially, we invested once again in our country’s strategic partners and adjusted our plans in response to geopolitical developments.
Six months later, the results not only confirm the recovery of the tourism sector but also confirm the sector’s return to a very promising trajectory, the effectiveness of the measures taken by our country’s tourism ecosystem, as well as the sector’s resilience.
Today’s announcement by the Statistical Service of the Republic regarding tourist arrivals for the month of September confirms precisely this momentum, as the overall performance for September surpassed all previous records, even those of September of the previous year, and will now go down as the most successful September in the history of Cypriot tourism in terms of arrivals.
The decline in the overall results for the January–September 2026 period was further mitigated compared to the previous year, with losses now standing at 5.6%, compared to the previous year, while at the same time recording increases of 4.1% and 8.3% compared to 2024 and 2023, respectively.
As has been repeatedly stated, as the Deputy Ministry, we began our planning for 2027 several months ago, with the goal of maintaining the tourism sector’s high performance, and to restore those geographic markets that experienced a decline due to external factors.
We are moving forward with the goal of achieving high-quality and sustainable growth in our country’s tourism sector, and with the vision of generating benefits for local communities as a result of the tourism sector’s strong momentum.”
