NICOSIA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Tourist arrivals in Cyprus went up slightly to reach almost 4 million in 2019, marking an increase of just one percent, Deputy Minister of Tourism Savvas Perdios said on Saturday, quoting Statistical Service data.
Perdios said tourism went up for a seventh consecutive year, despite the fact that it was expected right from the beginning that 2019 would be a difficult year for tourism, because of Brexit uncertainties and negative developments in the Russian economy.
Additional negative factors which affected tourist arrivals in 2019 were the closing down of Thomas Cook, affecting mainly the British and German markets and the collapse of a German airliner which flew to Cyprus on a frequent basis.
Despite Brexit worries, the United Kingdom remained the major tourism source for Cyprus, providing 1.33 million arrivals and marking a small increase of 0.2 percent. Arrivals from Russia, the second biggest source of tourists, drop 0.2 percent.
Perdios said tourist arrivals to Cyprus have a potential of increasing to 5 million by 2030. He added that this could be made possible by diversifying tourism strategy so that the tourism season will not end in early November and by promoting mountain tourism and attracting special interest tourists.
"Our target is to place Cyprus in the 30 most favored tourist destinations, from its current position in 45th place," he said.
Most tourists arriving in Cyprus prefer sunshine in seaside areas, though a large number are interested in the rich and diversified historical and archaeological tradition of the island.
