Cyprus tourist arrivals plunge - October 18, 2009

Cyprus tourist arrivals plunged 10.7 per cent in the first nine months of 2009, the government stasitical office reported last Friday, bringing more bad news to the recession-hit economy.

The recession in Europe is now biting hard on the Mediterranean holiday island, with the tourism-reliant economy expected to contract by 0.5 per cent this year.

Between January and September, 1.75 million tourist arrivals were recorded, compared with 1.96 million during the same period last year.

In September alone, arrivals were 276,178 as against 305,348 in September 2008 - a sizeable year-on-year decline of 9.6 per cent.

There was a hefty 20.1 per cent decline in arrivals from Russia, but a lower 7.2 per cent dip from Britain, the island's largest source of holidaymakers.

The government estimates that arrivals will be down 10 per cent for 2009 as a whole. To help ease the crisis, Cypriots were urged to holiday at home with subsidised hotel stays for lower-income groups.

Total tourism receipts for 2008 dropped 3.5 per cent to €1.79 billion from €1.85 billion in 2007.

Tourism contributes around 12 per cent of the island's GDP.

Bumper tourism revenues helped Cyprus achieve GDP growth of 4.4 per cent in 2007 and 3.7 per cent in 2008.