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Record number of tourists in  January

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A surge in tourists from Israel helped Cyprus achieve a record number of arrivals for January, increasing 4.5% annually to exceed 85,000.

According to official figures, arrivals of tourists reached 85,622 in January 2020 compared to 81,970 in January 2019, recording an increase of 4.5%.

“January 2020 had the highest volume of tourist arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during that specific month,” the Cyprus Statistical Service said.

Tourist arrivals from Israel (13,720) spiked 58% in January 2020 while a huge increase of 91.9% was also recorded in visitors from Ukraine (3,989).

However, tourist arrivals from major markets the UK, Greece and Russia all recorded a drop.

There were 4.7% fewer tourists from the UK visiting Cyprus, an 18.1% dip in arrivals from Greece and 4.6% fewer tourists came from Russia this January.

The UK still constitutes the main source of tourists for Cyprus with a 26.1% share in January while Israel was the second-largest market with 16% of total arrivals, followed by Greece 10.7% and Russia 8.8%.

Cyprus welcomed a record 3.97 million tourists last year, smashing the previous record set in 2018 by a slender 1%.

More Cypriots travelling

Some 134,507 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in January compared to 119,570 in the January 2019, recording an increase of 12.5%, according to the Passengers Survey.

In January there was a 10.2% increase in the trips of residents to Greece reaching 38,767 from  35,190 in January 2019.

There was also an 8.1% rise in trips to the United Kingdom reaching 19,669 compared to 18,198 last year.