Tourist arrivals in Cyprus in the first half of 2017 reached a new historic record, on the backdrop of a record year in 2016, according to data released on Monday by the Statistical Service (Cystat)
Arrivals from the UK increased by 9.7% in the first half of 2017
Arrivals for the period of January – June reached 1,463,206 marking an increase of 16.6% compared with the respective period of 2016.
“This figure outnumbered the total arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus in the first six months of the year,” Cystat said. In 2016 tourist arrivals reached a new all-time record reaching 3.2 million tourist arrivals.
June 2017 arrivals reached 472,450 up by 14.4% compared with June 2016. Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) said in a press release that June saw the second highest tourist arrivals following July 2016.
“Another month with high levels of tourist arrivals is added to the current successful tourist season in Cyprus,” CTO said, adding tourist arrivals from all of Cyprus’ main tourist markets contributed to the new increase.
The new rise in arrivals is broad-based with most markets recording increases in tourist arrivals.
Arrivals from the UK, Cyprus main tourist market, increased by 1.2% in June (9.7% in the first half), whereas arrivals from Russia accelerated by 2.1% in June (11.3% in the first six months).
Arrivals from Israel increased by 88.7% in June (up by 81.1% in the first half), with arrivals from Germany registering an increase of 93.1% in June (up by 53.2% in the first half). The Swedish market posted an increase of 25.4%.
On the other hand, arrivals from Ukraine declined by 27.5% in June, followed by France with 19.3%.
