Cyprus trips abroad rise by 12% in 2008

Trips abroad by residents of Cyprus rose by 12% in 2008 to 1,209,79, compared with 1,080,512 in 2007.
This was a much better performance than tourism arrivals , which fell by 0.5% to 2,403,744.
The country most visited was Greece, which is popular with Greek Cypriots because of the common language, the short distance and the greater choice in the shops.
Trips to Greece reached 446,825 trips, marking a rise of 1.9% compared with 2007.
Trips to the UK, the second most popular destination, rose by 13.6% to 246,205.
In terms of increases, biggest increase was in trips to Lebanon, up by 44.5% to 17,354.
In 2008 there was also a strong rise in trips to Israel, by 40.1% to 31,993.
The only major destination recording a decline in 2008 was Egypt. Trips there fell by 12.4% to 17,740, while trips to Russia rose by 8.7% to 49,297.
Women travel more than the men: 55.1% of trips compared with 44.9% for men.
The main age bracket for travel is 25 to 44-year-olds, which accounted for 43% of all travel.
The data show that 64% of trips were for holidays, while 22% were for business purposes.

Fiona Mullen
www.sapientaeconomics.com