Tourist arrivals continue to soar, June is 2nd best month

Tourist arrivals soared in June recording an annual increase of 22.6% compared to June 2015, data released by the Statistical Service show, with the Cyprus Tourism Organisation calling on all stakeholders “to continue their best effort and to work conscientiously, showing professionalism and dedication.”

The comment follows the recent wave of strikes in the hotel sector and groundhandling services at Larnaca and Paphos airports, mostly based on pay increase demands, which are not linked to productivity levels.

“Through our work this year, let us lay the foundations for even better results in the years to come, avoiding all actions which would negatively impact the sector and limit its great prospects,” the CTO says.

Based on the monhtly Passenger Survey, tourist arrivals in June reached 413,114 compared to 336,967 in June last year, an increase of 22.6%.

Arrivals from the UK were up by 21.1% and from Russia by 41.6%. A year-on-year drop of 6.4% was recorded in arrivals from Sweden.

For the period of January – June tourist arrivals reached 1,255,240 compared to 1,035,900 at the same period of 2015, an increase of 21.2%.

The CTO said June 2016 has been a record June in the history of the tourism sector but that it has also been the second best month of all times, after July 2015.

Referring to the data for the first six months of the year the CTO pointed out that “it is the highest performance in the first six months of the year in the history of Cypriot tourism.”

At the same time it added that for the first time ever, tourist arrivals of the second quarter (April – June) were over 1 million. The data for the first half of the year show an increase from virtually all markets, with the greatest been the UK(16.1%), Russia (47.7%, Israel (46.5%), Greece (13.5%), the Ukraine (34.8%), Germany (9.4%), Poland (32.7%), Belgium (32.3%) and Lebanon (36.4%), the CTO said.