August arrivals up on 1996

THE NUMBER of visitors to Cyprus during August this year is significantly up on August 1996, according to a report by the Department of Statistics and Research.

The report, issued yesterday, said 390,000 people, including tourists, visited the island last month. This figure represented an increase of 12.2 per cent on 1996;

62.5 per cent of the visitors came from European Union countries.

August also saw the number of people visiting for pleasure increase from 275,535 in July to 293,887 in August. Of the tourists, 37.7 per cent came from the UK, 15.7 per cent from Russia, 9.8 per cent from Germany and 4.1 per cent from Sweden.

The number of Cypriots travelling overseas in August almost doubled on last year with 80,172 heading for foreign shores, compared to 49,301 in August 1996. The favourite destination was Greece, with 46.7 per cent travelling there. Second was the UK with 9.5 per cent followed by Israel with 4.6 per cent.

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.