CYPRUS: A rise in British tourists help sets new record for February arrivals

An influx of British tourists to the island in February helped set a new record in Cyprus arrivals for that month which jumped 4% on the year before.

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While holidaymakers from the UK – Cyprus’ biggest market – increased 3.9% to 37,046 there were also positive arrivals from emerging markets Poland up 20.3% (2,829) and Ukraine spiked 81.7% (2,646).

Tourist arrivals to Cyprus broke yet another record in February and for the first two months of the year, exceeding the number of tourists that visited the island during the same period in previous years.

 In February, arrivals of tourists reached 105,571 from 101,481 in February 2018, recording an increase of 4.0%.

“February 2019 had the highest volume of tourist arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during the specific month,” the Cyprus Statistical Service said on Monday.

For the two months January – February tourist arrivals increased 5.7% to 187,541 from 177,348 in the same period last year, the highest ever recorded in Cyprus during the first two months of the year.

 Tourist arrivals from Russia – the island’s second largest market – recorded a decrease of 22.7% and arrivals from Israel and Germany declined by 13.4% and 10.5% respectively.

The United Kingdom was the main source of tourism in February with a 35.1% share, followed by Greece with 11.4%, Russia had 8.8% and Israel 7.5%.

 Some 102,756 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in February 2019 compared with 94,418 in the same month last year, recording an increase of 8.8%.

There was a 9.1% increase in trips by residents to the United Kingdom, from 15,167 in February 2018 to 16,553 in February 2019 and a 53.1% jump in trips to Russia, reaching 6,828 from 4,461 last year.