July 2018 witnessed a 1.6% increase in the number of incoming tourists, amounting to 539,626 compared with 531,030 July 2017, according to Cystat data released on Friday.

Though there was a recorded decrease of 1.1%, the United Kingdom continues to be the main source of tourists for Cyprus account ting for 32.4% of arrivals in July, followed by Russia (22.5%), Israel (6.1%) and Sweden (4.8%).

This year’s number, which totals over half a million incoming tourists, is the highest ever recorded for the month of July, despite a 5.9% reduction from Russia, a 22.2% decrease from Israel and a 14.5% decrease from Germany.

Numbers of incoming visitors have risen to unprecedented heights in general, since the period January-July 2018 recorded a 9.6% increase compared to the previous year.

The total tourist arrivals during the first seven months of this year amounted to 2,184,775 compared with 1,994,236 in the corresponding period of 2017.

At the same time, last month saw a 10% increase in the numbers of Cyprus residents travelling overseas, with a total of 164,376 compared to 149,716 in July 2017.

Specifically, increases were recorded in Cyprus residents returning from the countries of Greece (by 9.7%), Russia (by 17.4%), France (by 37.3%) and Bulgaria (by 63.8%).

Decreases in numbers of Cyprus residents arriving on the island were recorded from the United Kingdom (by 6.4%), Germany (by 33.1%) and Romania (by 12.1%).

Source: Cyprus Mail