Revenue from tourism increased by €142 million, or 17.5 per cent, between January and June this year compared to the first seven months of 2010, the Statistical Services reported yesterday.

Total revenue up to the end of July this year was €951.4 million.

Presenting the figures at a news conference, Chairman of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) Alecos Orountiotis said revenue from tourism in July increased by 18.8 per cent compared to July 2010, adding that the total revenue from tourism in July 2011 was €274.4 million compared to €231.1 million in July last year, an increase of €43.3 million.

”These increases are very important. They shows that much good work has been done,” said Orountiotis. “Fortunately the economies of our main markets, such as Russia, Germany and the Scandinavian countries, are moving in a positive direction.”

Orountiotis said that arrivals from Russia during the period January-July 2011 were up by 60 per cent, with Germany up by 17 per cent.

He added that, despite problems in Greece, arrivals from there recorded an increase of 12.4 per cent, while arrivals from the UK reversed the negative trend of the past five years, rising 1.5 per cent.

Orountiotis said income from tourism for the whole of 2011 was expected to reach €1.8 billion compared to €1.5 billion in 2010.

Regarding projections for the winter season, Orountiotis said: ‘Wwe are very optimistic. We expect the next months to be very positive and we have well-founded indications that we will have increases for September and October.”