The first indications regarding Cypriot tourism for 2026 are encouraging, Deputy Minister of Tourism Kostas Koumis said on Thursday during a press conference in Nicosia, where he presented the annual report of the Deputy Ministry’s work.
“The year 2025 has now gone down in history as the best year ever for our country’s tourism sector, accompanied by record-breaking performances, something that undoubtedly satisfies us as a Government and as the Deputy Ministry of Tourism,” Koumis stated.
In 2025, he continued, tourist arrivals exceeded 4.5 million visitors for the first time, marking an increase of 12.2% compared to the previous year and 41.6% over a three-year period. Tourism revenues for the January–November period, for which data are available, rose by 15.3% compared to the previous year and by 51.1% over three years.
Decrease in length of stay
Average per capita expenditure in 2025 increased by 2.9%, reaching €822 compared to €799 the previous year, while over a three-year horizon the increase amounted to 6.2%, the Deputy Minister noted.
“The average length of stay recorded a 4% decrease compared to the previous year, falling from 8.6 days to 8.27 days,” he said, clarifying that overnight stays are nevertheless increasing and, based on preliminary estimates, are expected to reach 18.5 million in 2025, compared to 17.9 million in 2024, representing a 3.3% rise.
“In essence, in 2025 the tourism sector confirmed in the most emphatic way its leading role as a strategic pillar of growth and resilience for the Cypriot economy, and also proved that it can remain a pillar of future prospects,” he stressed, noting that, despite ongoing challenges and a constantly changing international environment, the sector’s contribution to GDP rose to 14%, compared to 13.1% the previous year.
In absolute figures, tourism revenues for the three-year period 2023–2025 reached a record €9.9 billion, Koumis said.
New challenges
“Of course, our desire is to maintain these high performances, but at the same time we are facing a number of new challenges, the most significant being climate change,” the Deputy Minister said. Therefore, he explained, “our goal for 2026 is, on the one hand, to maintain performance at the same high levels, and on the other to continuously improve the visitor experience by upgrading the services offered.”
For this reason, he noted, “we are continuously investing in the green and digital transition.”
Regarding the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU, he said that the Deputy Ministry makes use of previously established policy frameworks, such as the Transition Pathway for Tourism, the Report on the Implementation of the Agenda for Tourism 2030, and the forthcoming Strategy for Sustainable Tourism, and aspires to lay the foundations "for a European Tourism Ecosystem that will be more competitive, more resilient, and certainly more sustainable in the near future, through the submission of a set of policy conclusions," he stressed.
Arrivals increase in January
“Our responsibility, now guided by the National Tourism Strategy 2035, is to design tourism for the next decade, investing more than ever in sustainable tourism development, education and the enhancement of the tourist experience,” he underlined.
Asked to assess the course of Cypriot tourism in 2026, the Deputy Minister said that arrivals in January recorded an 8.5% increase, adding that “we will have a clearer picture next week following the completion of the Berlin International Tourism Fair.” He noted that they expect the coming summer season to move at the same levels as last year.
“For us, the summer season has now reached its peak. We cannot go any higher, nor do we seek to go higher during the summer period,” he stressed, adding that “what interests us is increasing arrivals during the winter season, an undertaking that is not easy, as our country’s attractiveness does not have the same momentum compared to the summer period.”
CNA