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Cyprus, the island where, according to legend, Aphrodite, the ancient Greek goddess of beauty and love, was born, is an idyllic tourist destination.
This eastern Mediterranean island is rich in natural beauty, has a wide variety of rare endemic species both in flora and fauna, magnificent ancient sites, as well as a healthy climate. The traditional hospitality of the inhabitants and a high level of services all make it attractive to the visitor.
It is a land whose history and culture goes back 11.000 years so there is something for everyone - Neolithic settlements, ancient burial chambers, Greco-Roman temples and amphitheatres, Roman villas with mosaic floors, old Christian basilicas, Byzantine churches and monasteries with beautiful wall-paintings, mediaeval castles, Islamic monuments, to name but a few.
The tourist industry began to grow in Cyprus in 1960 with Independence. Cyprus has since become one of the main tourist centres of the Mediterranean with tourism as the mainstay of the island's economy. In 2001, 2,69 million tourists visited the free part of the Republic of Cyprus, compared to 25.700 arrivals in 1960.
Most tourists come from Europe (95%), the majority from the UK. Other important tourist markets for Cyprus are the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Russia and the countries of former USSR, Switzerland, Greece and Holland. There is also an influx of tourists from the Middle East, the Gulf and Israel.
Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO)
The body responsible for promoting tourism is the Cyprus Tourism Organisation, a semi-governmental organisation established in 1969. Its aims include the promotion of various other forms of tourism such as conference tourism and agrotourism. The CTO's policy is to make sure that the island offers a high quality product through the creation of new infrastructural projects such as marinas, parks, camping and excursion sites, nature trails, sports facilities, tourist pavilions, etc. The organisation aims at limiting the building rate of new tourist units and up-grading existing ones. Efforts to develop winter tourism have also begun to bear fruit.
The CTO also maintains offices abroad - 17 in major European countries, as well as in the USA and Japan. Tourist information centres also exist in all the towns and the main tourist resorts of the free areas of the island.
All visitors to the island should know that the only legal points of entry to and exit from Cyprus are the airports and ports controlled by the Cyprus government, namely Larnaca and Paphos airports and Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos ports.
Cyprus offers visitors an opportunity for fun and relaxation, events organised throughout the year, as well as a chance to get to know its culture and taste its traditionally warm hospitality.
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