OUCH! Cyprus tourism revenue sees first fall since 2009

Tourism revenue fell for the first time in five years by €59 mln in 2014, despite an annual increase of 1.5% in tourism arrivals, according to the monthly Passenger Survey by the Statistical Service Cystat.

Revenue from the economy’s main driver totalled €2,023.4 mln last year from €2,082.4 mln in 2013, a drop of 2.8%, the first decline since 2009 when tourism income fell by 16.7% from 2008.
However, after 2009, revenue from tourism followed an upward trend, rising in 2010 by 3.8%, 12.9% in 2011, 10.2% in 2012 and 8% in 2013.
Tourism seemed to have picked up in the last month of the year as the Passenger Survey found that revenue reached €43.7 mln in December 2014 compared to €37.6 mln in the year-earlier month, an increase of 16.1%.
Moreover, according to the same data, the average stay of tourists in December 2014 also increased, rising to 12.2 days compared with 11.3 days in December 2013.
Per person, tourists spent more in December at €767.9, compared to €686.3 in December 2013. The total cost per day also increased to €63.2, from €60.7.
Tourists from Finland recorded the longest stay with 40.1 days, followed by tourists from Sweden with 31.0 days and Norway with 26.1 days.
Tourists from the United States have the highest per capita expenditure with €1,422.5, followed by the Swedes at €1,061.7 and the Dutch with €1,037.7.
The lowest spenders were from Belgium with €400.1, Greece with €415.0 and Denmark with €482.5.