In an announcement on World Tourism Day, which falls on Sunday, September 27, the CTO also said tourism was a lifeline for the Cypriot economy particularly during the ongoing financial crisis.

“The past July and August were, in terms of tourism arrivals, the best two months for Cyprus tourism while tourism arrivals for this summer period up until August (April 2015- August 2015) have created another record in the history if Cyprus tourism,” the CTO said.

It added arrivals for the period increased by 5.2% on the previous year, rising from 1,571,441 in 2014 to 1,652,710 this year. In July alone, there were 414,527 arrivals, the highest ever for that month.

The CTO also noted the importance of the tourism sector to Cyprus’ economy: “It has played a starring role in the gigantic effort to bring development back to our country.”

The announcement added the government, CTO and all other involved stakeholders “are tirelessly working to continuing improve and elevate the sector”.

This year’s World Tourism Day is themed ‘1 billion tourists, 1 billion opportunities’ after a record one billion tourist arrivals were recorded around the world.

“Globally one of the top employment sectors, tourism provides important opportunities, making a difference both to the finances of many states as well as to the lives of millions of people,” the CTO said, also noting the sector’s important role in promoting development.

“At the same time, tourism empowers multicultural understanding, mutual respect between peoples and also the acceptance of the differences they are characterised by,” the CTO said.

Source: InCyprus