Cyprus tourism arrivals down again in June

Russia and Gulf offset weak EU market

Tourism arrivals recorded their second consecutive monthly fall in June, dropping by 0.9% year on year to 280,164, having fallen by 0.2% year on year in May, as strong Russian and Gulf markets were not enough to offset weakness in the EU.

Arrivals from the UK, which supplies over half of all tourists, were down by 6.1% year on year. The British market has been hit by a higher UK tax burden and generally lower consumer confidence this year. For the first six months of the year, UK arrivals were down 2.0%.

Arrivals from Germany, our second largest market, actually rose in June, for the first time in 9 months, perhaps reflecting an upturn in German demand. However, for the year as a whole, arrivals were down a huge 25.6%.

There is no sign that motherland Greece has stopped blaming Cyprus for the air crash in Athens last August. Arrivals from Greece have not risen at all this year, having fallen by 23.1% year on year in June and 11.0% in the first 6 months.

Cyprus lagging the trend

Perhaps more worryingly, the performance of tourism in Cyprus is bucking the global trend.

According to the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE), tourist arrivals rose by 4.5% in the first four months of the year.

While arrivals in Cyprus fell by 2.0% year on year in the first half, arrivals in Greece were up 6.33% and arrivals for Spain were up 6.11%.

Only Turkey, no doubt hurt by terrorism fears is fairing worse, with arrivals down 10.5% in the first 5 months of the year according to SETE.

Russia and the Gulf are strong

While high oil prices may be making west Europeans less likely to travel, they seem to be having the opposite effect on the citizens of oil-exporting countries.

Arrivals from Russia to Cyprus were up 49.6% year on year in June and 32.0% for the first half of the year, while arrivals from Gulf countries were up 16.3% in June and 21.8% for the first six months.

Fiona Mullen