Cyprus recession hits vehicle sales, travel

Cyprus recorded its fourth quarter of both year on year and quarter on quarter decline in the second quarter.
The decline in consumer spending is borne out in figures for car sales and outbound travel.
Car sales in Cyprus have performed very poorly this year, with registrations of motor vehicles showing a 25.7% decline in January-August compared with the same period of 2011.
Total registrations amounted to 18,847 in this period.
Registrations of private saloon cars fell to 13,952 from 17,955 in January – August 2011, recording a drop of 22.3%.
Meanwhile, outbound tourism dropped by 9.2% over the year earlier in August, reaching 155,426 compared with 171,256 in August 2011.
There was a drop of 14.7% in the number of trips of residents to the United Kingdom (27,124 in August 2012 compared to 31,806 in August 2011), which was hosting the Olympics at that time.
Trips to nearby Greece, on the other hand, were up 7% to 66,918.