Outward bound tourists up by 2% in 2006

If you are in the Cyprus travel business then you will know that the growth area is not bringing tourists into Cyprus but taking Cypriot tourists out of the country.

In a year in which tourist arrivals fell by 2.8%, the number of Cypriot residents travelling abroad rose by 2% to reach 932,116, compared with 913,820 in the corresponding period last year.

There was an increase of 2.2% in the number of trips by residents to Greece, the most popular destination, with 398,877 trips, while the number of arrivals from Greece fell by 2.6% to 126,760 in the same period. 

Trips to the UK rose by 22.9% to 157,021, while arrivals from the UK fell by 2.3% to 1.4 mln.

Not surprisingly owing to the Israel-Lebanon war over the summer, the Statistical Service reported a significant decrease in trips by residents to Syria (down 38.6%) and Lebanon (down 34.3%).