TOURISM: Jan-July up 6%, UK and Scandinavians shun Cyprus

Tourist arrivals increased by 5.7% year-on-year in July, the statistical service Cystat said, while Cypriots’ trips abroad were up 11.4% in the same month last year, probably as many did not travel during last year's crisis.
The figures for the seven-month period from January to July showed an increase of 5.9%, compared to the same period last year.
Based on the Passengers Survey conducted every month, tourist arrivals reached 381,955 in July compared to 361,442 in July 2013, up 5.7%.
Arrivals from Russia were up 20.6% (from 96,641 in July 2013 to 116,582 in July 2014) and arrivals from Israel increased by 63.5% (from 6,307 to 10,311 this year). The figure from Russia will stabilise in the next monthly survey following the collapse of three major tour operators.
However, tourist arrivals from the UK were down 4.1% (127,152 in July 2014 compared to 132,566 in July 2013), from Sweden by -4.3% (17,446 compared to 18,221), from Norway by -13.7% (11,029 compared to 12,787) and from Greece by -9.6% (10,127 compared to 11,205).
For the seven-month period January–July, arrivals totalled 1,361,794 compared to 1,285,577 in the corresponding period of 2013, an increase of 5.9%.
The monthly Passengers Survey also found that 129,602 Cyprus residents returned from a trip abroad in July compared to 116,321 a year ago, up by 11.4%.
In July there was an increase of 25.6% on the trips of residents to Greece (from 44,757 in July 2013 to 56,195 in July 2014).
Last year’s outbound travel was considerably low as it followed the March 2013 bail-in decision to rescue banks where savers saw their fortunes disappear into thin air, while cash was also not available to spend on holidays.