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Cyprus Records One Of The EU’s Highest Shares Of International Visitors

Cyprus’s Impressive Performance In Q1 2026

According to the latest Eurostat data, Cyprus recorded one of the highest shares of international overnight stays in the European Union during the first quarter of 2026. International visitors accounted for 85.6% of all overnight stays in Cyprus, placing the country behind Malta (93.3%) and ahead of Luxembourg (85.1%).

Comparative Analysis Across The EU

Cyprus and several Mediterranean destinations continued to record a high proportion of international visitors. By comparison, international overnight stays accounted for 19.9% of the total in Germany, 20.2% in Poland and 22.4% in Romania. Across the European Union, non-resident visitors represented 46.6% of all overnight stays during the quarter.

Monthly Trends And Market Dynamics In Cyprus

Cyprus recorded 368,639 overnight stays in January, 476,000 in February and 503,579 in March 2026 across hotels, holiday accommodation and other short-stay establishments. January overnight stays increased by 14.43% year-on-year, while February recorded growth of 32.17% compared with the same month in 2025. March, however, registered a decline of 36.81%.

EU-Wide Growth And Sectoral Shifts

Across the European Union, overnight stays in tourist accommodation establishments reached 471.1 million during the first quarter of 2026, representing a 3.4% increase from the same period a year earlier. January recorded 143.5 million overnight stays, up 3.2% year-on-year. February increased by 3.4% to 154.4 million, while March rose by 3.7% to 173.2 million. Ireland recorded the largest increase in overnight stays at 35.3%, followed by Malta at 11.1% and Denmark at 9.3%. Nine member states reported declines, including Lithuania (-12.9%), Romania (-6.7%) and Luxembourg (-3.8%).

Shifting Dynamics In International And Domestic Markets

International overnight stays across the EU increased by 5.5% compared with the first quarter of 2025, while domestic overnight stays rose by 1.7%. Ireland recorded the strongest increase in international overnight stays at 42.3%, followed by Lithuania at 24.1% and Slovakia at 15.4%. Latvia (-7.5%), Bulgaria (-4.3%) and Belgium (-4.0%) recorded declines during the period.

Source And Strategic Insights

Eurostat’s monthly tourism accommodation statistics form the basis of the dataset, covering hotels, holiday accommodation and other short-stay establishments across the European Union. Together, the figures provide an overview of tourism activity across member states during the first quarter of 2026 and highlight differences in the contribution of international and domestic visitors across individual markets.

Cyprus Fuel Prices Jump 20.5% As Energy Costs Rise Across The EU

Cyprus recorded a 20.5% year-on-year increase in the prices of fuels and lubricants for personal transport in May 2026, according to Eurostat data released on Monday.

The increase was broadly in line with the European Union average of 20.7%, with fuel and lubricant prices rising across all EU member states during the period.

Cyprus Tracks The EU Average

Among EU countries, the largest annual increases were recorded in Bulgaria (33.9%), Luxembourg (32.2%), Lithuania (30.8%) and Romania (30.4%). At the other end of the scale, Hungary registered the smallest increase at 3.5%, while annual growth ranged from 12.7% in Poland to 29.2% in France across the remaining member states.

Eurostat noted that fuel and lubricant prices generally declined across the EU until February 2026 before moving higher in subsequent months.

Diesel And Petrol Follow Different Paths

Across the European Union, diesel prices increased by 29% in May 2026 compared with the same month a year earlier, while petrol prices rose by 16.2%. Monthly trends, however, were more mixed. Between April and May 2026, diesel prices across the EU fell by 5.8%, whereas petrol prices increased by 0.8%.

In Cyprus, diesel prices declined by 1.5% over the same period. Although lower than in April, the decrease was less pronounced than in Germany (-11.9%), Greece (-8.5%), Estonia (-8.4%) and Ireland (-8.1%).

Petrol prices moved in the opposite direction, rising by 2.1% between April and May. A similar pattern was observed across much of the EU, with 23 member states reporting monthly increases. Italy recorded the largest monthly rise in petrol prices at 6.9%, while decreases were reported in Germany (-5.6%), Ireland (-2.0%) and Sweden (-0.7%).

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