September 2016 had the highest volume of tourist arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during the specific month.

For the period of January – September 2016 arrivals of tourists totalled 2.617.218 compared to 2.203.599 in the corresponding period of 2015, recording an increase of 18.8% and outnumbering the total arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during the first nine months of the year.

Analysis of changes

Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom increased by 3.0% in September 2016 compared to September 2015 while an increase of 51.8% was recorded for tourists from Russia. Increases were also recorded from other important tourist markets, such as Sweden (22.1%), Israel (20.5%), Greece (24.7%) and Germany (1.4%). Contrary to that, a decrease of 1.7% in tourist arrivals from Norway was recorded.

Main countries

The United Kingdom and Russia constitute the main sources of tourism for Cyprus, with proportions of 35.5% and 27.2% respectively, while arrivals from Sweden comprise 4.6% and from Israel 4.2% of total arrivals.

Characteristics of tourists

For a percentage of 87.7% of tourists, the purpose of their trip was holidays, for 8.1% was visit to friends and relatives and for 4.1% business. Women comprise 48.8% of tourists and men 51.2%, whilst most of the tourists belonged to the age group of 20-44 years.

Source: InCyprus