Northern Cyprus Tourism and Economy: Official Figures 2024–2026

Northern Cyprus Tourism and Economy: Official Figures for 2024–2026

An earlier version of this report combined official data with figures from property portals and travel sites, and drew investment conclusions from them. We have rebuilt it from the TRNC Central Bank’s quarterly bulletin. The bulletin republishes data from the Tourism Planning Office, the State Planning Organisation and the TRNC Statistical Institute. We have removed the rental-yield and price-growth claims: tourism statistics do not show what a property will earn.

Passengers arriving by air and sea

These are all passengers entering through Ercan airport and the ports of Kyrenia, Famagusta and Karpaz, including residents:

• 2023: 2,122,273
• 2024: 2,556,605
• 2025: 2,989,072, of whom 2,831,116 came through Ercan
• January–June 2026: 1,416,978

Counting only arrivals of Turkish and third-country nationals, January–June 2026 saw 1,216,526 passengers, 6.7% more than a year earlier. Arrivals from Turkey rose 9.0%. Arrivals from third countries fell 7.7%.

The earlier version quoted 2.59 million tourists for 2025. That figure came from a secondary source and does not match any series in the official tables, so we have removed it.

Guests in tourist accommodation

• 2023: 1,241,993
• 2024: 1,365,511
• 2025: 1,478,468. Of these, 1,169,506 were from Turkey, 60,052 from the TRNC and 248,910 from other countries.
• January–June 2026: 644,118

Guests from countries other than Turkey and the TRNC have fallen since 2023 (307,976 in 2023, 248,910 in 2025). The growth comes almost entirely from Turkey.

Land crossings from the south

Entries through the Green Line crossing points totalled 7,621,023 in 2025. Of these, 3,253,476 were by TRNC nationals, 2,398,498 by people from the south and 1,969,049 by other nationals. In the second quarter of 2026, entries by non-TRNC nationals fell 12.8% year on year.

Economic growth

The State Planning Organisation estimates real GDP growth at 13.3% in 2022, 7.3% in 2023 and 11.0% in 2024. The 2024 figure is an estimate. For 2025 and 2026, the bulletin gives targets of 5.0% and 6.0%, not results. Real value added in trade and tourism grew an estimated 15.9% in 2024. The earlier version’s figure of “8.5% nominal growth” did not match the official estimates and has been removed.

Reading these numbers carefully

• Passenger counts include residents and repeat travellers. They are not the number of individual tourists.
• Strong visitor numbers do not automatically mean high rental income or rising prices for a particular property. Those depend on location, management, licensing and costs.
• Full-year 2025 GDP results had not been published in the bulletin at the time of review.

Source

• TRNC Central Bank, Bulletin 2026 Q2, tables 3.1, B.42, B.51, B.52 and B.53

Last reviewed: 24 October 2026