CyprusVista

Here’s a question. One nation’s tourists are flocking to Cyprus in ever-increasing numbers, up almost 23% from last year, but which one?

The UK?

No. Tourist numbers from Great Britain were up this June on last, but only by 1%. Mind you, that’s still 187,000 Brits coming to Cyprus on holiday during June 2008, over 30% of all tourist visitors.

Greece?

No. The Greeks are actually staying away, their visitor numbers down almost 20% from last year.

Germany?

No - same applies as to Greece.

Russia?

Bingo! Visitor numbers from Russia are up a staggering 23% from last year, with just over 28,000 Russian tourists visiting in June 2008.

However, the most interesting tourist statistic may be the number of Cypriots going abroad for holidays in June, up 19% from last year. Just over 101,000 Cyprus residents went abroad in June 2008, and only 35,000 of them going to Greece. Indeed, the new figures from July 2008 back up this finding, with over 137,000 Cypriots leaving behind the sunshine for foreign climes.

So, is this the start of a new trend? If so, perhaps the canny Cypriot property owner will let out their rental properties to Russians, and jet off to somewhere with more water during the summer months! Certainly, anyone building holiday web sites in Russian must be in for a boom time…

I’ll drink to that:  Две водки пожалуйста !

photo by dreizehn28 at flickr.com

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