CYPRUS: Russian tourist arrivals expected to remain stable in 2019

Cyprus Tourism Minister Savvas Perdios expects tourists from the Russian market to stand firm while arrivals from other mainstay countries like Germany and Britain stumble.

Perdios is in Russia holding meetings in the framework of the Moscow International Travel & Tourism Exhibition.

In statements to CNA, he said this year the tourist flow from Russia – Cyprus’ second largest market – will be the same as last year, adding that this will give the island’s tourism a boost compared to other markets where indications are negative, such as from Germany and the UK.

Tourists from Russia fell 5% last year to 783,631 with a 19.9% share of the market, this was only bettered by the UK with 1.32 million arrivals and a 33.7% share while Germany had 4.8% (189,200).

Perdios said that Russian tour operators seem to be ready to invest in winter tourist programmes and they have begun to represent other Russian-speaking countries like Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as Baltic countries.

He said the British market depended on Brexit developments which is also linked to the exchange rate fluctuations for sterling.

Perdios also said that Cyprus should seek to attract tourists from other markets as well, and not only from traditional ones such as the UK.