Cyprus outbound tourism up 5% in Feb

**Visits to Israel leap **

While inbound tourism dropped by 11% over the year earlier in February, outbound tourism increased, according to the results of the Passengers Survey.
In February 72,824 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad compared with 69,325 in the corresponding month last year, thus marking an increase of 5.0%.
Almost a quarter (23.7%) of the trips were for business purposes.
In February 2012 there was an increase of 17.6% in the trips of residents to the United Kingdom (from 15,451 in February 2011 to 18,177 in February 2012).
Among the main countries visited, trips to Israel, Cyprus’ potential new energy partner, rose the most, jumping by 34.8% to 2,292.
There was also a 32.1% leap in trips to Egypt, although the number was small at 634 travellers.
Syria, by contrast, saw a 67.9% drop to 231.
Greece was the most popular destination, with 22,428 visits, but this was 9.6% lower than in 2011.
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