All-time high in tourist arrivals in Cyprus during first 7 months of 2018

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-18 20:45:45|Editor: zh
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NICOSIA, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Tourist arrivals in Cyprus marked a 9.6 percent increase during the first seven months of this year compared with the same period last year, despite a drop in Russian arrivals, the Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO) announced on Saturday.

It said arrivals topped 2,185,000, compared with 1,994,000 during the first seven months of 2017.

Tourism is currently the backbone of the Cypriot economy and the driving force behind a strong comeback after its 2013 meltdown and the banking system crisis which was resolved with a 10 billion euros bailout assistance package by the Eurogroup.

The economy is projected to grow by over 4 percent this year, the biggest expansion after Cyprus returned to growth at the end of 2015.

Russian tourists helped Cyprus achieve a record high increase in 2017, but this year there was a considerable reduction in arrivals from Russia, after the reopening of Turkish and Egyptian tourist destinations.

However, the reduction was more than offset by an increase of arrivals from other countries, most notably Britain, which is the traditional tourist market for Cyprus, and a revival of the German market.

"Each calendar month of 2018 is marked by record high arrivals compared to the corresponding month of any previous year," CTO said.

It added that the number of tourist arrivals in Cyprus for the 12-month period since July last year stood at 3,842,612, almost four times the permanent population of the eastern Mediterranean island, making it "the best twelve-month period in the history tourism in Cyprus".

CTO said that arrivals in July alone reached an all-time high of 540,000 compared with 531,000 for July last year, registering an increase of 1.6 percent.

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