Tourists mainly older, repeat visitors to Paphos, data reveal

The Statistical Services has published a full breakdown of figures on tourism arrivals in February, which as previously reported fell year on year by 4.1% to 72,600.

Among the larger markets, the most important one to record a decline was Germany: arrivals from Germany, which accounted for 9.3% of the total, fell by 23.7% to 6,721.

Arrivals from Russia, which have been doing badly since visa restrictions were tightened, fell by 15.4% to 1,613. Russian arrivals accounted for 2.2% of the total.

On a more positive note, arrivals from the UK, which accounted for 55.8% of the total, rose by 2% compared with February 2004 to 40,536.

The most impressive rise among the larger markets was France, with arrivals increasing by 17.3% year on year to 1,591. However, the proportion of arrivals from France, at 2.2%, remains tiny compared with the UK.

Mainly older, repeat visitors to Paphos

Owners of loud-music restaurants take note: the data also show that most of the arrivals were older visitors who have come before. Repeat visits accounted for 60.3% of the total, and visitors between the ages of 45 and 64 accounted for 44.3% of the total.

Paphos took 46.8% of visitors, with Limassol second at 21.5%.

Package tours accounted for less (47.8%) than individual travel (52.2%).

Hotels still predominate

Hotels still dominate as the chosen form of accommodation, accounting for 50.6% of the total, with another 15.6% staying in apartments or tourist villages.

But a significant proportion of 15.4% stayed with relatives or friends, while 7% stayed in their own residence, compared with 11.9% in January (which one assumes included people taking Christmas breaks).

Fiona Mullen