September tourism up six per cent

Tourism was up six per cent last month over the same month last year, capping a summer of growth, according to figures released yesterday by the National Statistics Office.

In both July and August, the number of tourist departures increased by 3.3 per cent.

Last month, total tourist departures were estimated at 129,425, consisting of 126,402 tourists departing by air and 3,023 by sea.

Tourists departing by air increased by 6.7 per cent when compared to the same month of the previous year and tourists departing by sea dropped by 16.1 per cent. As a result, total tourist departures increased by six per cent over the estimated 122,076 tourists in September last year.

The increase is attributed to various countries. German tourists, who accounted for 13.2 per cent of total departures, increased by 41.1 per cent. French visitors, who accounted for 10 per cent, increased by a remarkable 76.8 per cent, while tourism from the Netherlands was up by 25 per cent. Other increases were recorded from Austria, Sweden, the US and Russia, among others.

On the other hand, tourists from the United Kingdom, who accounted for 39 per cent of the total departures, dropped by 11.4 per cent, and those from Denmark by 40.4 per cent. Other declines included tourists from Libya, Switzerland, Norway and Belgium.

Between January and last month the total number of departing tourists was estimated at 918,072, an increase of 2.1 per cent when compared to last year.

Tourists from Germany increased by 4.5 per cent when compared to the same period last year and tourists from France by 14.2 per cent. Other increases included tourists from Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Norway and the USA.

Tourists from the UK fell by 4.5 per cent and other declining markets included the Austrian, Dutch, Swiss and Libyan.