Tourist arrivals recorded a drop for the second consecutive month, belying expectations for a recovery in the Cyprus’ tourist industry. According to CYSTAT data released on Monday, tourist arrivals in August dropped 6% to 305,926 compared to 325,390 in the corresponding month of 2003. This drop is mostly attributable to the decline in the British tourist arrivals and the reduced tourist arrivals from Greece and Russia. In July, tourist arrivals recorded a drop of 3.8%.

The Finance Ministry and the CTO anticipate that tourist arrivals will show an increase of 5% by the end of the year. In January – August, tourist arrivals reached 1,573,757 against 1,536,188 in the corresponding period of 2003 (+2.4%). Tourist arrivals for January – August 2004 dropped 18% compared to the corresponding period of 2001.

Tourist revenues for January – July fell 3.7%.