Cyprus tourism marks seventh month of Y/Y decline

UK collapses, but other Europe rising

A fairly warm start to the year in Cyprus was not enough to prevent the number of tourist arrivals falling for the seventh month in a row in February, primarily owing to a collapse in the UK market.

Tourist arrivals in February fell by 4.6% compared with the same month of 2006 to 63,098, bringing the cumulative decline for the year to 5.0%.

The main reason for the poor performance has been a steep fall in arrivals from the UK, down 14.5% year on year in the first two months of 2007. Britons account for more than half of visitors to Cyprus.

Higher interest rates in the UK have eaten into Britonsâ€™ spending power. The Bank of England has raised its key interest rates three times by a cumulative 0.75% since August 2006.

Given the strong rise in arrivals from other countries, it is also possible that Britons are suffering from a certain travel fatigue, brought on not only by the severe security delays at Heathrow last year but also the new draconian baggage rules imposed by British Airways.

It is notable that the decline in arrivals from the UK is in sharp contrast to the next three largest markets: Germany, Sweden and Greece. In February, arrivals rose year on year by 17.2% from Germany, 47.7% from Sweden and 11.8% from Greece.

Fiona Mullen