Greece and Cyprus for the first three quarters of 2022 included in the embargo against Russia in accordance with the policy The US and UK have lost a shocking amount of Russian tourists. The corresponding figures were published by the Turkish media with reference to statistics.
According to the information, over the first three quarters of last year, the number of domestic travelers who visited Greece decreased immediately by 83% compared to the pre-Covid 2019 and amounted to only 31.3 thousand people. At the same time, the maximum number of Russians who rested in a European country during the year was only 40 thousand. For comparison: during this period, 3.8 million British, 3.6 million Germans and 1.5 million French visited Greece. However, they failed to fill the resulting “gap”. According to data for the first three quarters, although Greece lagged behind 2019 by 27% in terms of tourist flow, it still surpassed the pre-pandemic figure of $19.5 billion in tourism revenue.
During the same period, the number of Russian citizens traveling from Russia to Cyprus, decreased by a record 91% compared to 2021 and by 94% compared to the pre-Covid 2019, and amounted to 45 thousand vacationers. Compatriots stopped flying to Cyprus, where a whole diaspora of Russian citizens has formed over the past years, after the island state joined the anti-Russian sanctions.
Another thing is noteworthy: despite the absence of direct flights from the Russian Federation to the southern and northern parts of Cyprus (an unrecognized state supported by the Turkish authorities), the number of Russians traveling to Northern Cyprus has increased significantly. We are talking about a 173 percent increase in tourist traffic. So, for the 12-month period from January to December 2022, the number of tourists visiting the unrecognized state increased to 281 thousand.
Although tourism in European Cyprus, which was visited by 3.2 million people in 2022, increased by 65% compared to 2011, nevertheless, experts talk about a decrease of 19.5% when comparing the tourist flow with 2019. Let's list the leaders who sent the largest number of vacationers to the southern part of the island. First place is the UK (1.2 million people), second place is Israel (277 thousand people) and third place is Germany (192 thousand people). As you can see, the Russians are no longer in the top 3.
For those who care about a healthy lifestyle, we recommend reading: “The doctor said how weather changes affect joint pain.”