Cyprus Tourist arrivals down for January – April 2009
Written on 13 May 2009 by adminNICOSIA, May 12 (Reuters) – The number of tourists visiting Cyprus — a major source of income for the island — was down 8.6 percent on the year until April, the statistics department said on Tuesday.
Tourism, which accounts for about 10.9 percent of Cypriot gross domestic product, has suffered this year from the global downturn that has hit its key market Britain particularly hard and eroded the value of the pound against the euro, which Cyprus adopted in 2008.
Passenger survey data from January to April showed arrivals falling to 375,523 people compared with 411,054 holidaymakers visiting in the first four months of 2008, an 8.6 percent decrease.
Year on year for April alone, arrivals were down by 0.4 percent.
Tourists from Britain, who usually account for just over half of Cyprus’s annual tourism intake, totalled 84,526 in April compared with 93,862 in the corresponding period of 2008, a 9.9 percent drop.
Tourism arrivals from Russia — Cyprus’s second biggest market — fell 11.8 percent, while Swedish arrivals were down 15.6 percent.
However, there were more visitors from euro zone countries Germany and Greece. The number of German visitors increased by 56.5 percent in April and arrivals from Greece were up 23.7 percent.
Cyprus Winter Holiday Offers from Libra
Written on 20 March 2009 by adminLibra have some great Winter Holiday offers to Cyprus from £200 per person, which seem to be until the end of April….
As an example I did a search for a week in Ayia Napa, 25/04/09 – 02/05/09, and it came back with 5 holidays for £158.05, now I don’t know about you but for a week in Cyprus for £160 you can’t go wrong, I hadn’t been planning on going but at that price I think I will be booking a week away now!
New housing plan for low income families in Cyprus
Written on 13 February 2009 by adminThe Cyprus government has announced yesterday its new housing
plan for low income families. The plan will make 200 million euro
available for loans through the Housing Finance Corporation.
The housing plan applies to couples acquiring their first permanent
residence in Cyprus or European citizens who live permanently in
Cyprus the last five years and have a yearly income of up to 40,000
euro. The plan covers houses up to 200 sqm all over Cyprus.
The loan can be used for either building a house in an existing plot
or buying an existing house or apartment. The maximum loan amount
can be up to 200,000 euro. The interest rate on the loan will be set to zero
for the first two years and after that it will equal the current interest
rate of the Housing Finance Corporation.
For more information on the housing plan or for properties covered
by the plan call free 80-000-222 or visit your local BuySell office or
reply to this email.
More on www.BuySellCyprus.com
Ayia Napa, Nissi Beach Photo
Written on 12 February 2009 by adminI just wanted to post one of my favourite photos of Cyprus, Nissi Beach in Ayia Napa, every time I look at it I wish I was there seeing that blue sky 
The sandy Nissi beach stretches for 500m with clear blue waters.
Do you have a favourite picture of Cyprus? Send them to me and i’ll publish them
Cyprus Tourism Revenues Fall 3.5 % in 2008
Written on 28 January 2009 by adminCypriot tourism revenues fell 3.5 percent in the island’s key holiday sector during 2008, official figures showed on Wednesday.
Revenues weakened to 1.79 billion euros (2.38 billion dollars), from 1.85 billion euros in 2007.
However, in December alone, revenues edged forward 0.4 percent to 51.6 million euros from 51.4 million a year earlier.
The average daily spending by tourists was about 64 euros in December, and the average stay was 11 days.
The biggest spenders were Israeli visitors, splashing out 231 euros a day, while Swedes were the most frugal spending only 21.5 euros a day on average.
The disappointing revenue figures are coupled with a 0.5 percent decrease in tourist arrivals in 2008 to 2.40 million people from 2.41 million in 2007.
It was only the fourth decline in visitor numbers since 1996 and the outlook for 2009 is worse, with hotel bookings said to be 25 percent down for the coming summer.
Bumper spending by holidaymakers helped the Mediterranean resort island achieve GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2007.
The finance ministry has trimmed its GDP growth projections to 3.7 percent for 2008 and down to 2.1 percent for this year due to concerns that the global financial crisis will trigger lower tourism revenues.
The lion’s share of visitors holidaying on Cyprus come from fellow European Union countries, especially from recession-hit Britain and Germany.
Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis said on Wednesday the government was mulling an additional 40-million-euro stimulus package for the struggling tourism and construction sectors.
A 52-million-euro injection for the two sectors was announced in November but the economy is slowing faster than predicted. EU Commission estimates for the islands GDP growth in 2009 is one percent lower than the government’s forecast.
Tourism contributes nearly 15 percent to Cyprus’s GDP (AFP)
This information is taken from naharnet.com
Another Cheap Cyprus Holiday!
Written on 17 July 2008 by adminAfter my last trip to Cyprus being cheap I have found yet another deal which seems to be pretty cheap, this time for my parents, once again it’s with Olympic Holidays and staying at the Anthea in Ayia Napa, self-catering, for two weeks for just £316 all in!!
When I did a search for just 1 week from 3rd September the price came in at £346, you’d be mad not to go for two weeks, just looking for flights individually seem to be around the £200 mark at the cheapest!
So once again Olympic Holidays seem to come out a winner for me!
Interested in Property in Northern Cyprus?
Written on 4 July 2008 by adminIf you are interested in buying property in the Northern part of Cyprus then here is a great article to read.
Northern Cyprus: How the other half lives
My experience with the Euro in Cyprus
Written on 19 June 2008 by adminI went to Ayia Napa at the end of April and was looking forward to experiencing spending the Euro there for the first time, at the time the exchange rate was at it’s lowest, at the airport I exchanged some English Pounds and got a rate of 1.18, which was terrible, so already I knew it would ’seem’ more expensive than previous, the other change was going to be seeing if places were profiteering from the change.
I’d read beforehand that places had to show dual pricing, Cypriot Pounds and the new Euro rate so I didn’t think they would be able to profiteer.
It appeared though that instead of converting the old Cypriot pound to the new Euro amount, it was the other way round, deciding on a euro rate and working backwards to give the Cyprus pound figure.
A pint of local beer, KEO, Carlsberg or Leon was around 3 euros at most places in Napa which at the 1.18 rate worked out at £2.54 a pint, compared to last year when a lot of places were charging CYP1.50, approx £1.80.
I think the main influence on it seeming expensive is the fact the euro rate is rubbish at the moment, the same time in April 2007 the rate was 1.47, so there you see that lovely local pint would have still been more expensive (£2.04) but not as much as 40%!
It will be interesting to see how the euro affects Cyprus by way of Tourism considering over 3m people visit the island from the UK alone, I can imagine those living on a UK pension in Cyprus are feeling the pinch a bit with the rate as it is.
It could be that it’s just expensive like this in Ayia Napa, I will be visiting again in September so will have to venture out and see.
Cyprus crossing reopens
Written on 3 April 2008 by adminGreek and Turkish Cypriots have reopened a major crossing in the divided Cypriot capital of Nicosia.
Ledra Street, which had come to symbolise the partition of the island, was declared open by local officials.
It was split in 1964, during an outbreak of violence between the ethnic Greek and Turkish communities.
Click here to read the BBC News article
Cheap Cyprus Holiday
Written on 21 March 2008 by adminWell last week I booked a cheap holiday to Cyprus for the end of April with Olympic Holidays
8 nights, mainly because the flight going out is late Saturday night, staying at Anthea Hotel Apartments in Ayia Napa, we were just looking for a very cheap break to get away from the English weather and get some sun, and at £162 this is a bargain considering some of the cheapest flights we looked at were around this price!
Now I just can’t wait to go, it will be interesting to see how the Euro has affected prices out there but with the Euro rate having dropped so much against the English Pound then it’s bound to seem expensive anyway, so maybe that cheap bottle of KEO or LEON isn’t going to be so cheap anymore 
