Paphos People

Sunday, February 17, 2008

TOURIST arrivals to Cyprus for January hit their lowest levels in over a decade, with a drop of 21 per cent since the year 2001, Statistics Department figures show.

While overall January 2008 figures declined 2.3 per cent, the British market, the island’s main source of tourism, fell a staggering 15 per cent over January 2007.

According to the figures released, only 50,658 tourists – less than half of them British – visited the island last month, compared to 51,848 in January 2007.

Although the fall is not significant in itself, when compared to the previous seven years the decline in winter tourism since 2000 is evident.

In January 2000, 63,553 tourists visited the island. In 2001, which was the last peak year for Cyprus tourism, 64,213 visitors arrived.

A dramatic drop to 54,067 occurred in January 2002 in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

By January 2003, despite the imminent US invasion of Iraq in March that year, numbers had recovered somewhat to 59,529, but have never reached that level since.

Tourism bosses said last week it was evident that visitor numbers to Cyprus were dropping, not due to external problems but to internal ones given that global tourism was up over six per cent for 2008.

While the British market continues to slide, increases from Greece and Russia have continued.

And Germany, the island’s second biggest market, which was briefly replaced by Russia last year, appears to be showing a turnaround.

According to the arrival figures, tourism from Germany seems to be rebounding with a hike of 24.3 per cent.

Overall, arrivals in 2007 barely broke even, showing a marginal 0.6 per cent rise over the 2.4 million tourists who visited in 2006.

The British market dropped 5.7 per cent in 2007 to 1.28 million arrivals from 1.3 million in 2006.



Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2008

JGG
Do you notice many German visitors ?
Paphos seems to be nearly totally British holidaymakers to me.
When in Ayia Napa I noticed there were a large number of Scandinavian visitors there but I've not noticed this in Paphos.
DP

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So close yet so far away

German tourists are in my opinion,
2nd in numbers to British.

Not that many Germans seem to visit the tourist
area. I think they prefer the cultural side of Cyprus
rather than the touristy side.

There also seems to be more visitors coming from the Scandanavian countries and many taking up residence here.

But on the whole, its certainly Brits who make up
the largest quota of tourists.

This is only based on me having a business in the tourist area, cos obviously I don't see what happens elsewhere in Paphos.

JGG

Maybe the drop is linked to the UK economy. The number of home repossessions has risen, so maybe people just don't have the money to visit holiday destinations.

Verity.

_________________
Verity.

Be who you are, and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

http://coecyp.blogspot.com

What difference does it make how many Brits come here? You can prove just about anything with statistics e.g.

Figures released in January revealed that over 7 million passengers passed through Larnaca and Paphos Airports in 2007, a 3.94% increase on 2006, and a new record for passenger traffic at Cyprus airports.

Figures for December 2007 break the previous record set in 2005 of 6,781,643 passengers. In that month alone, the two airports handled over 325,000 passengers, a 10.9% increase on December 2006.

So someone is coming here!

Yes, they are coming here, figures which show arrivals at Larnaca..............................don't show the numbers that are arriving here, then heading straight over to the North, I'm amazed to see the governments arrival figures up ( call me cynical ) yet I don't see these people when I'm out and about.

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If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs..............you obviously don't have a clue as to how serious things are.

Verity wrote:



You have hit the nail on the head Verity. The UK is on the verge of a recession. We are constantly facing higher food and fuel bills. Brian keeps a spreadsheet of our weekly spends, and he announced last week that it costs us £30 per week more this year than last year, for things like food, cleaning products, toiletries etc. We are not buying any more, in fact I have not consumed any alcohol for weeks!

Brian is in a well paid industry (print) but people stop buying magazines when money is tight, and the sqeeze is affecting many people. We were in Manchester the other day, the only busy shop was Primark. M&S, Debenhams, Selfridges were almost empty!

What does appear to be gaining popularity again are caravan holidays, although it's not my idea of a holiday! I would rather be T-total, wear rags and eat beans on toast for 50 weeks, to ensure I had my holiday in the sun!

Pam

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Pam

Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans

I do that now Pam
Tricia

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new me new life, , never forget my cyprus life and friends .

Yeah but it was noticeable that there were a lot of Scandinavians on the beaches during the days and out and about on a night.
That's a market that could be tapped into for the Paphos region.
Just a thought.
Gary

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So close yet so far away

Oh aye, and what was so noticeable about them Gary, or shouldn't I ask?

Maybe they all wore a flower or leaf.

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Molly

Treat others as you want to be treated

Tourism income up


Income from the tourist sector in Cyprus rose by 4.9% in January this year according to new figures—that equates to around 1.7 million euros.

However actual arrivals onto the island fell by over 1,000 compared to the same month in 2007.

Overall revenue for tourism in January is estimated at 35.3 million euros.

The biggest spenders come from Russia, Switzerland and Norway with the lowest spenders arriving from Greece, Israel and Italy.

Famagusta Gazette