Tourist arrivals spike 23.4% in February

The number of tourists arriving in Cyprus reached 101,481 in February 2018 compared to 82,209 in the same month last year, recording an increase of 23.4%, official data showed on Monday.

February had the highest volume of tourist arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus for that month, the state Statistical Service said.

For the first two months January – February 2018 tourist arrivals totalled 177,348 compared to 144,820 in the same period of 2017, recording an increase of 22.5% and outnumbering the total arrivals ever recorded in Cyprus during the first two months of the year.

In a statement, the Cyprus Tourism Organization (CTO) underlines that in addition to the "extraordinary performance of February", tourist arrivals have hit record highs in every month since March 2017.

The data, the CTO said, “show the serious work done in the field of tourism which continues to have a leading role in the growth of the Cyprus economy”.

Tourist arrivals last year reached a record high of 3.65 million (up 14.6%) generating record tourism receipts of 2.6 billion euros.

Income from tourism accounts for more than 12 percent of the eurozone member’s gross domestic product and is credited with ensuring a relatively quick recovery from the 2013 bailout.

Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom - the island's largest market -- increased by 29.5% in February and there was an 11.3% spike recorded in tourists from Greece.

Increases were also recorded from other important tourist markets, such as Israel (63.8%) and Germany (86.7%).

There was a decrease of 17% in tourists from the second largest market Russia.