Cyprus tourism marks its first rise since October

Arrivals of tourists to Cyprus rose year on year for the first time since October in April 2006, recording an increase of 12.5% to 206,548, compared with 183,561 in April 2005.

However, despite the moderately good news, this holiday-related increase was not enough to offset the steep decline recorded in March. Arrivals of tourists dropped by 21.9% year on year in March, partly owing to the timing of Western Easter (March 27, 2005 versus April 16, 2006). However, the decline was steeper than usual.

Smiling for Irish eyes

Among Cyprus’ main markets, the biggest rise by far was recorded by arrivals from Ireland. These rose by 102.4% to 2,453 in April. Arrivals from Ireland grew by 19% for the whole of 2005 and have been a strongly growing market in recent years.

There was also a much higher than average rise in arrivals from the UK, which rose 32.5% year on year to 113,576 in April. Cyprus remains heavily dependent on Britain for tourism, as the country supplies more than half of all tourists.

Beyond the “Easter effect” countries, and perhaps spelling hope for the rest of the year, there was also continued strong growth from Israel and the Gulf.

Arrivals from Israel were up 28.9% in April and up by around 21% for the first four months as a whole, while arrivals from the Arab Gulf countries were up 31.7% in April and around 32% for the January-April period.

Fiona Mullen