Tourist authorities are concerned that Cyprus is dependent on only these few tourist markets, since Britain, Russia, Greece, Germany and Israel cover 79% of total tourist arrivals.

It is worth noting that 2016 was a record year for tourist arrivals. There was an 18% increase in arrivals compared to 2001, the previous record year.

In 2016, 1,015,347 tourists arrived from the United Kingdom, which corresponds to 38.9% of total arrivals, a clear indicator of the significance of the British market.

Meanwhile, there is a constant increase in arrivals from the Russian market, largely due to the political upheavals in Turkey and Egypt. During 2016, 781,634 passengers arrived from Russia.

Greece, Germany and Israel are the other three countries in the top-five.

During 2016, 160,254 tourists arrived from Greece, 124,030 tourists arrived from Germany and 133,875 from Israel. Of particular note is the skyrocketing number of arrivals from Israel, which are up 240% compared to five years ago.

Scandinavian countries follow as a significant contributor to tourism, making up 7% of tourist arrivals. However, since 2012 there was a 15% decrease in arrivals from these countries.

Like Israel, arrivals from Ukraine show a dynamic rise of 220% (62,292 in 2016) compared to 2012.

Compared to five years ago, arrivals from countries in the Gulf have increased by 73% to reach 29,953 in 2016.

The number of Chinese visitors to the island remains small, in spite of the dynamism of the Chinese market. In 2016, 2,665 Chinese visitors arrived on the island, whereas five years ago arrivals numbered 1,014.

Cyprus residents travel abroad in 2016

This past year was also a record year in the number of Cyprus residents travelling abroad,largely due to the availability of all sorts of flights and the many EU citizens residing on the island.

Greece is still the favourite destination of Cyprus residents (539,452 trips in 2016) according to data from the Cyprus Statistical Service.

The United Kingdom takes second place as the preferred destination of Cyprus residents (218,175 trips in 2016), while Russia is in third (58,727 trips in 2016) after a 21.7% increase.

Romania follows with 39,808 trips, and then comes Germany with 35,654.

Source: InCyprus