Cyprus tourist arrivals up 32% this year

Cyprus tourist arrivals have increased by 32 per cent this year, deputy minister for tourism Costas Koumis said on Sunday, expressing the hope that visitors will continue to flow to the island until November.

“There is no doubt that this is a good year for tourism,” he said, “In terms of arrivals we have seen an increase of around 32 per cent while in terms of income, an increase of 34 per cent. There is also an increase in spending per capita, so we are having a very good tourism year”.

He said the numbers for upcoming months are encouraging based on messages the ministry has received.

Increased arrivals are expected until mid-November, he said, as the aim continues to be to lengthen the tourism season.

“The ultimate goal in the near future is to turn our country into a year-round tourist destination. This is not an easy task, it is something that we as a state have been trying to achieve for 30 years and as everyone knows things in tourism are changing at a very fast pace, given the increasing competition at the international level as well,” he said.

He said in the autumn Cyprus will be at international travel fairs and also making contacts with individual countries to drive up arrivals. In this context, he is due to visit Scandinavia in September.

He will visit Sweden and Finland and then go on to France and the World Travel Market in London.

He also said efforts are being made to attract more tourists from the Gulf although they tend to visit cities but he said the closeness and similarities found in Cyprus give the island an advantage.

Asked about niche tourism like religious and sports visits he said this is another area of interest. “But unfortunately religious tourism has taken a hit with the reduction in the number of Russian tourists”.

With the overall increase in numbers, he added, “by the end of the year we will see to a large degree we have covered the loss of the Russian and Ukrainian market.

“My personal opinion is that Russia and Ukraine are two valuable markets that we will always want to have. Especially the Russian market, had been giving us good arrivals in recent years and in the months that are at the beginning and end of the tourist season, since as we know Russians came to Cyprus in good numbers in November as well”.

Therefore, he concluded, the Russian market “is a loss, and regardless of whether it is fully covered, it is a loss.”