The impact of the global economic crisis on tourism in Cyprus

Key words

Cyprus tourism economy global economic crisis

Abstract

The Global economic crisis had an impact on tourism movement all over the world and especially on island territories. However, some island territories coped better with the effects of the crisis than others. Cyprus was one that saw tourists visits return to pre-crisis levels. The main aim of the article was to examine how Cyprus dealt with the global economic crisis. Three questions were here posed: First, is there a correlation between the changes in the GDP growth rate in the main markets that send tourists to Cyprus and the changes in the number of tourist arrivals from these markets? Did the actions taken by the National Tourism Administration and National Tourism Organisation, during the global economic crisis, increase the number of tourist visits to the island? Was there, during the period analysed, a correlation between foreign tourists arrivals and Cyprus’ GDP growth rate? The methods used in the article included statistical analysis as well as analysis of the literature and of strategic documents. A correlation between the changes in GDP from the main markets and the number of tourists visiting Cyprus from these markets was observed. Moreover the actions taken by the National Tourism Administration were only partly effective. The correlation between the changes in foreign tourist arrivals visiting Cyprus and the changes in Cyprus’ GDP was estimated as weak.