Tourist arrivals down in June

Tourist arrivals in June dropped 6.6 per cent year-on-year, the statistical service said on Thursday, as less Greeks, British and Germans visited the island.
Arrivals from Russia however, jumped 20.6 per cent year-on-year, reaching 96,618, compared with 80,145 in June 2012.

Tourist arrivals were also down 7.0 per cent in the first six months of the year.

The statistical service said 924,135 people arrived between January and June as opposed to 993,736 last year.

Total arrivals in June this year were 308,219 versus 329,977 in the same period last year, the statistical service said.

Arrivals from Greece dropped to 9,206 from 13,530 in 2012, a 32 per cent decline, while 16,591 less Britons visited Cyprus in June this year compared with a total of 127,747 in the same month of 2012 – a13 per cent fall.

German tourists were also down 10.7 per cent – 9,554 compared with 10,693.

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.