Cyprus tourism revenue outpaces arrivals

Revenue from tourism reached CYP 155.0 mln in July, according to the Statistical Service CYSTAT, recording a rise of 10.6% compared with July 2005.

The sharp increase may be attributed to the influx of evacuees from Lebanon, some of whom stayed in hotels either paid for by themselves or by their governments. However, tourism revenue has already been the one bright spot in a generally gloomy year for tourism.

Contrary to earlier years, revenue from tourism has been faring better than arrivals in 2006. While total arrivals fell year on year by 1.3% in the first seven months of 2006, total revenue rose by 5.8%.

This could reflect Cyprus’ long awaited shift to attracting higher value-added tourists, although the tragic death of a young Cypriot who was run down and killed by a British tourist in Ayia Napa in last week means that there is still some way to go.

Data on tourist arrivals last week showed that total arrivals rose by 0.7% in July to 341,443.

On the positive side, there was a 0.8% increase of tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom – the biggest market, a 25.9% increase from Norway, a 25.1% increase from Sweden and a 10.5% rise from Russia.

However, Cystat reported a significant decrease of 24.1% in tourist arrivals from France and a decrease of 10.1% from Germany.