The increase in October was due to Russian arrivals more than doubling, to an annual 132%, or 81,556, Cystat said in a statement on its website on Thursday. The UK added 19,334 more tourists last month, which increased the number of British tourists by 17%, to 133,889.

Tourists from Israel and Greece rose an annual 104% and 8.4%, to 15,861 and 15,239 respectively, Cystat said. Tourists from Germany rose 7.3%, to 18,137.

In January to October, total arrivals rose an annual 20%, to 2,974,412, also a new record which even exceeds total arrivals in the entire 2015, Cystat said. Arrivals from the UK and Russia rose in the first ten months of the year 12% and 51% respectively, to 1,088,562 and 751,808.

Directly or indirectly, tourism makes up roughly one quarter of Cyprus’ economy which expanded 1.7% last year after emerging from a prolonged recession. It is expected to grow close to 3% this year. The performance of the hospitality industry this year was favoured by geopolitical events in Cyprus’ region.

In a separate statement, Cystat said that the number of Cyprus’ residents who travelled abroad in October rose 32% to 110,162 compared to the respective month of 2015.

Source: Cyprus Mail