March boost for tourism

TOURIST arrivals for March rose by 24.5 per cent compared to the same period in 1998, the latest figures show.

The huge increase brought the number from 101,575 in March 1998 to 126,494 this year.

More than 80 per cent of the tourists who arrived in March came from EU countries. Nearly half were from the UK, followed by Germany (15.1 per cent), Russia (4 per cent), Greece (3.9 per cent), Sweden (2.8 per cent) and Israel (2.4 per cent).

The rise in the three months January to March show a 13.5 per cent increase in tourists and is in line with predictions of an overall 12 per cent rise for 1999.

But this projection now hangs in the balance after the unexpected slump in hotel bookings because of the Yugoslavia crisis which has deterred many Europeans from booking a holiday.

Hotels reported late last month that bookings for June, July and August were extremely slow.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.