German tourists were the top spenders in Cyprus in March, up from fifth last year, and dished out €779 per person which, based on an average stay of 7.9 days, works out at a cool €98.66 per day, some €30 per day more than their fellow nationals spent on the island in March 2023.
School and work holidays contributed as Anglican and Catholic Europeans celebrated Easter on March 31 this year. Orthodox Easter followed quite later, on May 5.
Tourism revenue increased for the second consecutive month to €113.0 mln in March compared to €97.8 mln in the same month last year, an increase of 15.5%, according to the monthly Passengers Survey carried out by the Statistical Service Cystat.
For the January-March period, tourism revenue rose 11.7% to €223.3 mln, compared to €200.0 mln in the first quarter last year.
The average expenditure per person increased by 5.3% year on year to €558.88 in March (or €75.52 per person), compared to €530.72 (€73.71pp) in the same month last year.
Top Spenders and Their Stays
Based on their spend per day, tourists from Israel topped the chart at €143.21, but had the shortest stay at an average of four days, followed by German, and Austrians in third place at €91.92 per day for an average stay of six days.
Next were holidaymakers from the Netherlands who spent €82.13 per day for an average stay of 8.8 days, and France at €73.23 with an average stay of 6.4 days. Tourists from Greece stayed the longest, an average of 9.8 days, but spent far less at €43.37 per day, down from €57.32 a day in March last year.
Tourists from the U.K. (the largest market with 31.8% of all tourists or 64,414 arrivals) spent on average €73.49 per day in March, while tourists from Poland (the second largest market with 10.4% of all tourists or 21,054) spent on average €75.86.
