Russian Ambassador to Cyprus Murat Zyazikov said that the country’s tourism sector lost about 1 billion euros in 2022 due to the absence of Russian tourists. Zyazikov said this in an interview. TASS.
According to the diplomat, 3.1 million Russians visited Cyprus in 2022; this was 80% of the pre-pandemic record year of 2019, when 3.9 million travelers from Russia arrived in the country. He pointed out that due to the cancellation of flights with Russia last year, Cyprus could not compensate for the flow of domestic tourists and the country lost about 800,000 Russian tourists.
“Tourist expenditure in 2022 amounted to 88 € per day. “Assuming that the average vacation lasts 14 days, the Cyprus tourism industry missed about 1 billion euros from the Russian part’s loss last year,” he said.
In addition, Zyazikov emphasized that some Russian companies that came under Western sanctions had to leave Cyprus. This caused hundreds of people to lose their jobs.
“Cyprus’ participation in anti-Russian sanctions has been negatively received by representatives of the local business community, a significant part of which are interested in cooperating with Russia,” he said, noting that everyone is fed up with the sanctions.
Formerly Association of Tour Operators, UAE’s full In 2022, it ranks second in popularity among Russians.