Cyprus tourism arrivals tumble in February

Tourism arrivals tumbled by 19.3% in February as the UK marked dived.
According to the latest figures from the Passengers Survey conducted by the Statistical Service arrivals of tourists reached 56,626 in February 2009 compared with 70,140 in February 2008.
The main reason for the large decline was the UK market, from which arrivals fell by 20.4% to 26,178, compared with 32,877 in February 2008. UK arrivals account for more than half of all tourists.
However, there was also a large drop in arrivals from Greece of 27.9%, to 6,596 compared with 9,146 in February 2008.
There was a 20.9% decrease in arrivals from Germany (5,466 compared with 6,910).
The Russian market remained strong, however, rising by 19.4% year on year to 2,347, from 1,966 in February 2008.
For the period January – February 2009 arrivals of tourists totalled 103,693 compared to 120,798 in the corresponding period of 2008, recording a decrease of 14.2%.

Meanwhile, outbound tourism has also shown the first signs of slippage.
On the basis of the results of the Passengers Survey, 73,550 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in January 2009 compared to 78,021 in the corresponding month last year recording a decrease of 5.7%.
In January 2009 there was a decrease of 16.6% on the trips of residents to Greece (20,904 in January 2009 compared to 25,050 in January 2008) as well as 1.6% decrease from the United Kingdom (16,988 compared to 17,256 last year).