Cyprus tourism revenues continue to slide

Revenues from Cyprus's vital tourism sector dipped 5.7 percent in the first two months signalling another rocky year for the Mediterranean island's economy, official figures showed on Tuesday.

From January to February, revenues from tourism were estimated at 63.6 million euros compared to 67.5 million in the same period last year.

In February alone, revenues from holidaymakers recorded a steeper drop of 6.4 percent, falling to 33.9 million euros from 36.3 million in the same month of 2009.

Income from tourism, which makes up 12 percent of gross domestic product, dropped to an estimated 1.49 billion euros in 2009 from 1.79 billion euros the previous year.

Tourism receipts have been in negative territory for 14 consecutive months but the industry is hoping for a surge in Russian and German tourists this year.

Tourism income for 2008 as a whole fell 3.5 percent to 1.79 billion euros from 1.85 billion in 2007.

The average daily spending by tourists in February was 62.2 euros and the average stay was 9.9 days.

The Irish were the biggest spenders at 168 euros a day, while the Swedish were the most frugal, spending just 39.1 euros a day on average.

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 disappointing tourism income, the Cyprus economy contracted by 1.7 percent in 2009 to end decades of robust growth.

The lion's share of holidaymakers in Cyprus come from fellow recession-hit EU countries, especially Britain, Greece and Germany.

Tourist numbers from Britain - the island's largest market - were down by 4.5 percent in February, double the overall figure of a 2.4 percent decline in arrivals last month.