Passenger traffic shows signs of recovery, Hermes says

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CNA

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Passenger traffic shows signs of recovery after 18 months of many challenges due to the pandemic, Hermes Airports says in a press release it issued on Thursday.

It points out that despite the reluctance of a significant portion of the population to travel abroad and the complicated control procedures at airports, this year 50 airlines flew from Cyprus, compared to 70 in 2019, while most of them will continue to fly to Cyprus during the winter months.

Furthermore, it notes that in the first eight months of 2021 passenger traffic was 2,511,239, (33% of the same period in 2019), which demonstrates that we still have a long way to go until we reach the pre-pandemic figures. 

Hermes says that the results of the summer season show more optimistic tendencies, as in August passenger traffic reached 867,104 passengers, (60% of 2019) while in June and July their number was 440,944 and 772,136 respectively. In August last year passenger traffic did not exceed 296,266 (Larnaka airport: 221,791, Pafos airport : 74,475).

Hermes said it analysed data from the Cyprus Flight Pass for the period May 25-August 22, 2021, which show that trips of permanent residents of Cyprus dropped as they constitute 22% of the total traffic, compared to about 30% in the previous years. A total of 78% of the overall passenger traffic concerns passengers who are not permanent residents of Cyprus.

A total of 82% of non-permanent residents in Cyprus came for holidays, 10% visited relatives and friends while 3% came for business reasons. Most travelers chose Famagusta (47%) as their place of residence, followed by Pafos (27%), Limassol and Larnaca (12%) and Nicosia (1%).

The majority of Russians chose Famagusta for their holidays, followed by Pafos, while most British tourists chose Pafos followed by Famagusta.

It is pointed out that this year, tourists from Poland were the third biggest tourist group, recording an increase of 6% compared to 2019 (from 2% in 2019 to 8% in 2021), mainly due to better connectivity. Most of them preferred Pafos for their vocations (50%). 

Ukranian tourists chose Famagusta district for their holidays (48%), followed by Pafos (20%) while Germans prefered Famagusta and Pafos equally. The press release notes that for the first time, this year saw a significant increase in flights to and from Italy. As regards France, it says that after many years, there are direct flights to french airports from Larnaka and Pafos. French tourists prefer to stay in the Pafos district (42%), followed by Famagusta (30%) and Larnaka (17%). 

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