CYPRUS: Tourist arrivals in October reached a record 436,509

Cyprus tourist arrivals in October increased 0.7% to 436,509, from 433,617 last year, making it the highest volume of visitors ever recorded for that month.

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Tourist arrivals for the first 10 months January-October rose by an annual 0.6% also marking a new all-time record for that period.

Arrivals for January to October increased 0.6% reaching 3.69 million compared to 3.67 million in the same period of 2018, according to official data.

In the first 10 months of 2019 arrivals from the UK, Cyprus’ largest tourist market, fell 0,3% to 1.24 million, whereas arrivals from Russia, the second largest market, were also down 0.5% to 748,760.

Arrivals from Israel spiked 24% year on year reaching 266,580.

In October alone, tourists from Israel by 91%, followed by the Ukraine with 44% and Russia was up 13%.

However, arrivals from the UK and Germany declined by an annual 8.0% and 14.7% respectively in October.

Cyprus annual tourist arrivals spiked 7.8% in 2018 to a record 3.93 million as revenue touched a historic high of €2.71 bln.

Cypriot authorities say they would be satisfied to meet last year’s targets due to stiffer competition from cheaper neighbouring destinations like Turkey.

Income from tourism accounts for about 15% of the country’s gross domestic product and is credited with underpinning a quick recovery from the financial crisis with GDP growth at around 3%.