From January to August 2015, there was an increase in tourist arrivals excluding June, while April and August recorded record numbers. CYPRUS - FAMAGUSTA GAZETTE• The CTO chairman Angelos Loizou said a meeting will take place next Thursday at the Foreign Ministry on the subject of visas for Chinese citizens to enter the Republic of Cyprus. "Once the problem is solved”, he said, "CTO aims to attract to Cyprus around 400.000 Chinese tourists”. CTO expects that tourists from China will boost tourism growth in Nicosia even in the winter. Regarding the casino resort to be established in Cyprus, CTO Chairman, estimated that it will attract around 500 000 additional tourists. Announcing statistical results for tourism, Loizou said that in 2014, 2.4 million tourist arrived in Cyprus and revenues from tourism amounted to 2 billion and 35 million euros. Tourists were spending on average 829 euros per capita during their stay in Cyprus and around 77.5 euros per day. As he said the United Kingdom is the main tourist market for Cyprus, followed by Russia, Greece, Sweden, Germany and Israel. He added that tourists prefer Paphos and Polis and then Famagusta, Limassol, Larnaca and Nicosia. From January to August 2015, there was an increase in tourist arrivals excluding June, while April and August recorded record numbers. For winter 2014/215 CTO Chairman said that there was an increase of 67.7% from Israel, 49% from Arab countries, 22.4% from Germany, 11.8% from Greece and 9 8% from Israel. - There are no official projections at the Cyprus Tourism Organisation showing a decline in the Russian tourist flow for next year, CTO Director General Marios Hannides said on Friday. - Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Vice Chairman Kostas Koumis has expressed the view that tourist arrivals from Russia to Cyprus will hit a record high in 2014 reaching 650 thousand persons. - After a series of high-profile scandals in the Russian tourism sector, many Russians have lost trust in tourist companies. - The volume of Russian tourists travelling to Europe dropped by 30 percent and the decrease can be explained by recently strained international relations, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday.
Cyprus Tourist officials are to meet with the Foreign Ministry to discuss visa's for Chinese tourists entering Cyprus, as part of their strategy to attract around 400,000 Chinese tourists﻿ to the country, along with the building of a new casino resort, following the granting of its first casino license April.