Tourist arrivals rise 15% in 2017 to new record

The number of tourist arrivals rose 15 per cent last year to 3,652,073, beating the previous year’s record figure, mainly on a strong rise in numbers of visitors from secondary markets, the statistical service said on Wednesday.

In December alone, the number of tourist arrivals rose 13 per cent to 98,924 compared to the same month of 2016, Cystat said in a statement on its website.

Last year, the number of tourist arrivals from the UK, whose economy plunged into uncertainty after voters decided in June 2016 to leave the European Union and from which Cyprus traditionally attracts the bulk of its visitors, rose 8.3 per cent to 1,253,839, Cystat said. The number visitors from Russia, Cyprus’s second largest source of incoming tourism, rose last year 5.5 per cent to 824,494.

The number of Israelis who visited Cyprus last year rose 76 per cent to 261,966, which made the neighbouring country Cyprus’s third largest tourist market, according to the data. The number of German and Greek visitors rose 52 per cent and 5.9 per cent to 188,826 and 169,712 respectively while the number of tourists from Sweden rose increased 19 per cent to 136,725.

In a separate statement, the number of Cyprus residents who travelled abroad in December rose 5 per cent to 110,849, Cystat said.

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.