“We hope that 2026 will be even better with new and innovative changes as our vision is to transform the exhibition into a regional tourism celebration, which will capitalise on the strategic position of our country, both geographically and in terms of tourism,” he said. Arrivals during the first quarter of 2025 have set a new record at 450,000, he said.

Papacharalambous noted that the domestic travel sector had recovered dynamically, expressing his optimism about the continuation of this development, pointing to 1.75 million trips from Cyprus abroad reported in 2024, marking a 4.4 per cent increase on 2023. Regarding arrivals, he said the increase reported in the first quarter of the year could bring the prospect of reaching two million arrivals in three months, a goal that he claimed, “is not far away”, as recent estimates by Hermes Airports, could raise the total passenger traffic from both airports to 6.5 million.

Finally, Papacharalambous lauded the tourism ministry’s cooperation with Actta and the private sector in promoting Cyprus as a holiday destination abroad, stressing that significant efforts were still needed to rebalance tourism between the summer and winter seasons.

Source: Cyprus Mail