Tourist arrivals in Cyprus reaches all-time high in 2015

The number of tourist arrivals in Cyprus saw a marked increase of 8.9 percent in 2015, indicating an all-time record for the country, the Cypriot Statistical Service said on Monday.

Based on the passengers survey carried from the beginning of January to the end of December last year, the Statistical Service said a total of 2.7 million tourists came to Cyprus, relative to 2.4 million in 2014.

A sizeable increase was recorded in December 2015, with 78,348 visitors compared to just 56,863 in December 2014, an increase of 37.8 percent.

The spike is partly attributed to the cancellation of trips by tourists to Egypt following the downing of a Russian jet over Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31 and the tourist embargo imposed by Russia on Turkey following the shooting down of a Russian Su-24 military jet over Syria on Nov. 24 by Turkish jets.

Cypriot minister of tourism Yiorgos Lakkotrypis said the increase of tourist arrivals in the last year improves the prospects of 2016, noting "we can proceed to the sustainable development of the sector."

The increase of tourist arrivals for the whole year helped the Cypriot economy mark an expansion of over 2 percent against the 1.5 originally forecast.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, tourism contributes to a quarter of Cyprus's economy, both directly and indirectly. Endit