The Independent in the UK report on the first six months of the year for the Cyprus holidays industry:

Cyprus’s tourism revenue rose 2.2 percent in the first six months, raising hopes the key sector can help revive the recession-hit economy, official figures showed on Wednesday.

Revenue from January to June increased to 578.3 million euros (763.4 million dollars) from 565.8 million euros a year earlier.

In June alone income spiked 11.4 percent to 195.3 million euros from 175.4 million euros a year earlier, the biggest jump in two years.

The average daily amount spent by tourists in June was 73.8 euros and the average stay was 9.6 days.

Swiss were the biggest spenders at an average 105.30 euros a day, while the Greeks were the most frugal, spending just 59.30 euros.

Income from tourism accounts for nearly 12 percent of gross domestic product. It dropped to an estimated 1.49 billion euros last year from 1.79 billion euros in 2008 and 1.85 billion euros in 2007.

Bumper spending by holidaymakers helped the island achieve GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2007, easing to 3.7 percent in 2008.

The economy retracted by 1.7 percent in 2009, its worst performance since 1974.

The finance ministry expects GDP to grow by 0.5 percent in 2010.

More Cyprus holidays information is available with yourcyprus.info and includes a map of Cyprus

Incoming revenue from Cyprus’s key tourism sector plunged 17.1 percent in April when the eruption of the Icelandic volcano severely disrupted flights across Europe, official figures showed on Thursday.

Last month at least 20,000 holidaymakers failed to make it to the eastern Mediterranean island, even though both of its international airports remained open. Total arrivals in Cyprus in April were down 23 percent.

More than 350 flights between Cyprus and Britain and northern Europe — the country’s major tourism markets — were cancelled during the mid-April volcanic ash cloud alert.

In April, tourism revenue dipped to 89 million euros, down from 107.4 million in the same month of 2009. Tourism income has been in steady decline since December 2008.

Income from tourism, which accounts for nearly 12 percent of gross domestic product, dropped to an estimated 1.49 billion euros for the whole of last year, down from 1.79 billion euros in 2008 and 1.85 billion euros in 2007.

For the four months ending in April income fell 6.1 percent to 218.2 million euros from 232.3 million euros during the same period in 2009.

The average daily amount spent by tourists in April was 62.7 euros and the average stay was 10.2 days.

Swiss were the biggest spenders at 105.8 euros a day, while the Greeks were the most frugal, spending just 50.7 euros a day on average.

Most tourists to Cyprus come from fellow recession-affected EU countries, especially Britain, Greece and Germany.

Bumper spending by holidaymakers helped the island achieve GDP growth of 4.4 percent in 2007, easing to 3.7 percent in 2008.

On the back of poor tourism receipts, the economy retracted by 1.7 percent in 2009, its worst performance since 1974.

The finance ministry expects the economy to grow by 0.5 percent in 2010 but the Cyprus central bank has warned the downturn could continue until 2011.

Cyprus is currently trying to reduce a fiscal deficit that ballooned to 6.1 percent of GDP in 2009 — double the EU’s permitted ceiling of three percent.

For Cyprus flights visit yourcyprus.info

Government figures just released have confirmed our February report that the number of people visiting the island for a holiday dropped by ten per cent last year - The AFP news agency for example report:

Cyprus tourist arrivals plunged 10.9 percent in 2009, the government’s statistics office reported on Wednesday, bringing more bad news to the recession-hit economy.

The recession in Europe is now taking its toll on the Mediterranean holiday island whose tourism-reliant economy is expected to contract by 0.5 percent in 2009 and grow by the same amount this year.

Between January and December, 2.14 million tourist arrivals were recorded, compared with 2.40 million in the same period a year earlier.

In December, arrivals were 66,201 against 72,102 in December 2008 — a sizeable year-on-year decline of 8.2 percent.

Tourism contributes around 12 percent of the island’s GDP and the majority of visitors come from European countries badly hit by the global recession.

There was a 10.3 percent decline in arrivals from Britain, the island’s largest source of holidaymakers, and a lower 7.8 percent dip from Germany.

However, the number of Greek tourists rose by 3.2 percent to reach 11,381.

The figures are slightly worse than the government’s projected 10 percent fall in arrivals due to the global financial crisis.

To help ease the crisis, Cypriots have been urged to holiday at home with subsidised hotel stays for lower income groups.

More details about Cyprus including reviews for the Cyprus hotels are available at http://www.yourcyprus.info