July sees 9.2% rise in Cypriots travelling abroad

July saw a 9.2% year-on-year rise in the number of Cypriots travelling abroad, reaching 113,737 people or about one in seven of the population in the government-controlled areas.

The rise was not as high as in May, when the number of people travelling abroad rose by 31.4% to 82,310. May excursions were boosted by the timing of Orthodox Easter on May 1.

Greece remains by far the most favoured destination, with almost half of travellers in July visiting there. The UK, which is second, attracted 13,056 visitors, or about 11% of the total.

Travelling abroad on holiday is a fairly new phenomenon in Cyprus. It remains to be seen whether the high death-toll of Cypriots in August from the Helios air crash and the Sharm El Sheikh car crash will discourage people from travelling in future.

Women travel more

Figures for the whole year show that women travel abroad more than men. In July the proportions were 59.4% female and 40.6% males.

The 25-64 year-old age group travels most, at 41.3% of the total in July, compared with 22.5% for 15-24 year-olds and 27.3% for 45-64 year olds.

Over two-thirds (68.1%) of travellers go for holidays but a fairly high proportion of 16.4% go for studying purposes, while 12.8% go for business.

Other data show that Cyprus received 20,503 cruise-ship visitors in July.

Fiona Mullen