An influx of British, German and Russian holidaymakers helped revive the Cyprus tourism sector with a 10 percent jump in arrivals in 2011 from the previous year, official data showed Tuesday.
Tourism has been one of the few bright spots during a year in which the economy had struggled to grow.
The significant 10.1 percent increase was recorded with tourist arrivals reaching 2.39 million, up from 2.17 million during the same period in 2010, the official statistical service said.
The rise was triggered by a 2.5 percent tourist increase from Britain, the island's largest holiday market, to 1.02 million, a 49.2 percent jump from Russia reaching 334,083 and a 13.4 percent rise in visits from Germany to 157,890.
Arrivals also increased from France (19.5 percent), Greece (8.7 percent) and the Netherlands (21.7 percent).
However visits from recession-hit Ireland dropped 8.2 percent in 2011 and tourist arrivals from Israel fell by 15.8 percent.
In December alone the number of arrivals to Cyprus climbed 6.8 percent to 65,339 against 61,199 for the same month in 2010.
Overall Cyprus benefited from turmoil in other popular regional destinations such as Egypt and Tunisia.
Income from tourism accounts for nearly 12 percent of Cyprus's gross domestic product.
Tourism was expected to fuel the island's nascent recovery but following the naval base explosion in July that knocked out the island's main power plant -- the economy has suffered a serious setback with only marginal growth expected for 2011 and 2012.
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