Annual tourist arrivals in Cyprus recorded an increase of 2.8% in March this year compared with March 2016, while for the first quarter an increase of 13.5% has been recorded compared with the first three months of last year, data released by the Cyprus Statistical Service show.

At the same time, more Cypriot residents travelled abroad, with returning residents recording an annual increase in March 2017 of 19.2%.

On the basis of the results of the Passengers Survey, tourist arrivals were 140,873 in March 2017 compared to 137,013 in March 2016, recording an increase of 2.8%.

This March saw the highest volume of tourist arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during this month.

For the period January-March 2017 arrivals of tourists totalled 285,693 compared to 251,608 in the same period of 2016, recording an increase of 13.5%

According to the Statistical Service`s press release tourist arrivals from Russia increased by 55.1% in March 2017 compared to March 2016 while an increase of 10.7% was recorded for tourists from Greece.

More tourists also chose Cyprus as a destination this March from other important tourist markets, such as Israel (94.9%) and France (15.9%).

On the other hand, tourist arrivals from the UK recorded a drop of 7.9%.

The United Kingdom and Russia constitute the main sources of tourism for Cyprus for March 2017,holding a share of 38.7% and 14.1% respectively, while arrivals from Greece comprise 9.6% and from Israel 7.1% of total arrivals.

On the basis of the results of the Passengers Survey, 102,758 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in March 2017 compared to 86,229 in the corresponding month last year, recording an increase of 19.2%.

In March 2017 there was an increase of 22.4% in the trips of residents to Greece up from 31,570 in March 2016 to 38,638 in March 2017 and 22.3% increase from the United Kingdom up from 16,940 to 20,726 this year.