According to CYSTAT data released on Wednesday, tourist revenues in October recorded an increase of 3.1% to £115.9 million compared to the corresponding month of 2003. It is worth noting that for the first time in 2004 this increase in revenues was larger than the increase in tourist arrivals, which stood at 2.6%. This latest development, however, seems incapable to cover the losses from tourism so far, since tourist revenues in January-October dropped 2.5% to £910.4 million compared to the corresponding period of 2003. For the same period, tourist arrivals increased by 2.9%.

“This improvement in the tourist revenues for the past few months is not a coincidence but reflects the efforts for the improvement of seasonability”, higher official of the Tourist Agents Association, Christos Petsides told StockWatch. Mr. Petsides said that this development might be the start for a recovery in the tourist industry in 2005. On the question whether Cyprus is prepared and expects an improvement in the future, Mr. Petsides stressed the need for infrastructure projects that will attract foreign tourists and measures to tackle certain problems that affect Cyprus as a destination.

Retail trade

The drop in tourist revenues in the past few months has affected negatively the turnovers of the retail stores in the tourist areas.

POVEK General Secretary, Melios Georgiou told StockWatch that this development has affected mostly the small or medium size shops (clothes and souvenirs), which are hit by the opening of the checkpoints, the tourists with lower purchasing power and the increased number of shops. “The turnovers of the supermarkets in the tourist areas have not been affected negatively by tourism”, Supermarket Association Executive Manager, Andreas Hadjiadamou told StockWatch.