.jpg)
Tourist arrivals in March were up 2.8% from the year earlier, suggesting that Cyprus could head for a new record after the all-time high in 2016, driven by Russia and Greece.
Data from the statistical service Cystat, based on the monthly passenger survey of airports and ports, saw a first quarter an increase of 13.5% compared to last year.
At the same time, more Cypriot residents travelled abroad, with returning residents recording an annual increase in March of 19.2%.
In March, tourist arrivals reached 140,873, compared to 137,013 in March 2016. For the January-March period, tourist arrivals totalled 285,693, compared to 251,608 in the same period of 2016, an increase of 13.5%
Tourist arrivals from Russia were up by 55.1% in March compared to the saem month last year, while an increase of 10.7% was recorded for tourists from Greece.
More tourists also chose Cyprus as a destination this March from other tourist markets, such as Israel (94.9%) and France (15.9%).
On the other hand, tourist arrivals from the UK recorded a drop of 7.9%.
The United Kingdom and Russia constituted the main sources of tourism in March 2017, with a share of 38.7% and 14.1%, respectively, while arrivals from Greece comprised 9.6% and from Israel 7.1% of total arrivals.
In all, 102,758 Cyprus residents returned from a trip abroad in March, compared to 86,229 in the same month last year, an increase of 19.2%.
There was an increase of 22.4% in trips to Greece, up from 31,570 in March 2016 to 38,638 in March 2017 and 22.3% increase to the UK, up from 16,940 to 20,726 this year.
Meanwhile, tourism revenue saw a significant annual increase in January of 21.6% year-on-year.
Based on the Passenger Survey, revenue from tourism reached EUR 35.4 mln in January 2017 compared to EUR 29.1 mln in the same month of the previous year, an increase of 21.6%.
The annual increase in arrivals for January was 28.8%.
Tourist arrivals from the UK in January reached 17,404 compared to 14,552. Their expenditure per capita was EUR 727 compared with EUR 675 last January and EUR 60.10 per day compared to EUR 59.05 in the same month of last year. Their average stay was 12.1 days compared to 11.4 last January.
Russian tourist arrivals nearly tripled to 13,677 this January compared to 5,304 last January. Their average stay was lower at 7.5 days compared to 10.8 days in January 2016. Their per capita expenditure was EUR 607 compared to EUR 696 last January. However, their daily expenditure was EUR 81 compared to EUR 64 in January 2016.
