Filenews 2 August 2022 - by Adamos Adamou
Despite the loss of the Russian market, the increased tourist flow compared to last year, is also pushing up tourism revenues, which in the first five months exceeded half a billion euros, recording an annual increase of 341%. Compared to 2019, the tourism receipts of the first five months of this year are only €100 million or 17% less. Otherwise, the performance in terms of tourism revenues is estimated at 83% of those of 2019!
The decrease in tourism revenues compared to 2019 is clearly smaller than that recorded by tourist arrivals during the same period, as in the first five months tourist visits are estimated by the Statistical Service at 849,058 compared to 1,121,361 in the first five months of 2019, with the decrease amounting to 24.3%.
They spend more
From the above, it appears that this year the expenditure of tourists has also increased. As announced yesterday by Cystat, based on the results of its Traveller Survey, tourism revenues in May 2022 reached €221 million compared to €76.7m. recorded in May 2021. In fact, compared to last year, tourism revenues in May tripled as a result of the tripling of arrivals in the same month, as tourist visits from 100,852 in the fifth month of 2021 amounted to 315,018 this year.
For the period January - May 2022, revenues from tourism are estimated at €543 million, compared to €123 million in the corresponding period of 2021, as well as €115,3 million in the period January - May 2020. As we wrote, compared to the first five months last year, tourism revenues recorded an increase of 341% compared to 2019, the last normal year for tourism before the pandemic, although in the case of Cyprus it was also the best year in the history of tourism in terms of arrivals, revenues record a decrease of 17%.
Sequel follows
Data on tourist arrivals are also available for June, which also confirms the recovery of the industry. We recall that in June 2022 tourists amounted to 372,324 compared to 184,159 in June 2021, recording an increase of 102,2%. The arrivals of the first half of the year amounted to 1.221.382, compared to only 340.984 in the corresponding period of 2021. There is also expected to be an increase in tourism revenues in June, while the increase is expected to continue for July and August.
The recovery of tourism and travel in general was confirmed yesterday by the United Nations International Tourism Organization (UNWTO), referring to the results of the first five months, despite the many challenges faced by the sector and expected to continue (war, inflation, etc.).
Yesterday's data from the Statistical Service confirm to some extent the recent estimates of the Fiscal Council, which in its interim spring report in June predicted that the estimate of the Deputy Ministry of Tourism for direct revenues of €1.7 billion is not enough. This year's income from tourism is not seen as excessive. We note that last year the revenue from tourism amounted to €1.5 billion.
LABELLING
Everyone spends
The course of tourism revenues so far seems to debunk another "myth": the one that considers that Russian tourists were necessary for the industry because they were high-income visitors. According to Cystat, despite the loss of Russians, the decrease in tourism revenues compared to 2019 continues to be smaller than that of arrivals at the same time, thus showing the trend that began last year for increased spending of travellers. It follows that all tourists spend as long as they are satisfied with the product. All visitors have their importance, including natives.
