According to CYSTAT data released on Monday, tourist arrivals for February 2004 dropped 2.9% compared to the corresponding period of 2003, mostly due to the downturn of the British market. Russia and Sweden contributed significantly to the slump in tourist arrivals, while German arrivals recorded an increase.

Overall, 75,705 tourists visited the island in February against 77,972 in February 2003, whereas British tourist arrivals (60% of the total arrivals of the island) recorded a drop of 11.3% to 39,735 compared to 44,795 in 2003.

Despite the overall slump in tourist arrivals, messages from Germany and Greece are fairly encouraging, since German tourist arrivals in February surged 17.8% to 8,809 (2003: 7,481) and Greek arrivals increased by 10% to 6,341 (2003: 5,767).

For January-February 2004, tourist arrivals dropped 3.8% to 132,209 compared to 137,502 in 2003. The Finance Ministry and CTO anticipate that tourist arrivals will show an increase of 5% in 2004, while by 2006 is expected to reach the record levels of 2001.