Arrivals of tourists increased in January 2018 by over 21% compared to last year.

According to the Statistical Service of Cyprus, on the basis of the results of the Passengers Survey, arrivals of tourists reached 75.867 in January 2018 compared to 62.611 in January 2017, recording an increase of 21.2%.

January 2018 had the highest volume of tourist arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during the specific month.

Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom increased by 14.6% in January 2018 compared to January 2017 while an increase of 35.2% was recorded for tourists from Greece.

Increases were also recorded from other important tourist markets, such as Israel (57.2%), Germany (10.2%) and Poland (77.2%).

Contrary to that, a decrease of 20.8% in tourist arrivals from Russia was recorded.

The United Kingdom and Greece constitute the main sources of tourism for Cyprus for January 2018, with proportions of 26.3% and 15.1% respectively, while arrivals from Russia comprise 14.3% and from Israel 10.9% of total arrivals.

For a percentage of 55.2% of tourists, the purpose of their trip in January 2018 was holidays, for 24.3% visit to friends and relatives and for 20.4% business.

Men comprise 53.2% of tourists and women 46.8%, whilst most of the tourists belonged to the age group of 20-44 years.

Meanwhile, on the basis of the results of the Passengers Survey, 107.759 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in January 2018 compared to 108.981 in the corresponding month last year, recording a decrease of 1.1%.

In January 2018 there was a decrease of 11.2% on the trips of residents to Greece (36.664 in January 2018 compared to 41.287 in January 2017) and 7.8% decrease from the United Kingdom (19.139 compared to 20.769 last year).