Breaking news

Cyprus Kicks Off 2025 With A 27% Surge In Tourist Arrivals

Cyprus’ tourism sector is off to a strong start in 2025, with tourist arrivals surging by 27.4% in January compared to the same month last year. The growth signals the success of ongoing efforts to position the island as a year-round destination, particularly during the traditionally quieter winter months.

Key Numbers: A Strong Start To The Year

According to CySTAT, 112,100 tourists arrived in Cyprus in January 2025, up from 87,961 in January 2024. Israel led as the top source market, accounting for 21.1% (23,704 arrivals), followed by:

  • United Kingdom – 16.7% (18,701 arrivals)
  • Poland – 14.1% (15,791 arrivals)
  • Greece – 10.1% (11,288 arrivals)

Shifting Travel Trends

While vacations remained the primary reason for visiting Cyprus, accounting for 56.4% of arrivals, the share of tourists traveling for business increased to 19.0%, up from 17.2% in January 2024. Meanwhile, 24.5% visited friends and family, slightly higher than the previous year.

Winter Tourism On The Rise

The steady increase in arrivals suggests that Cyprus’ strategy to boost winter tourism is gaining traction. With its mild climate, diverse cultural experiences, and targeted promotional campaigns, the island is attracting more visitors beyond the peak summer months—setting a strong precedent for the year ahead.

Hugging Face Chief Urges Transparency and AI Security Investment

OpenAI is reviewing an incident in which one of its AI models breached the systems of AI platform Hugging Face, following calls from the company’s chief executive, Clem Delangue, for greater transparency about what happened.

Delangue said on X that he had travelled to San Francisco to discuss the incident with the OpenAI team before urging the company to publicly release technical details of the event.

Delangue Calls For Greater Transparency

In a follow-up post, Delangue called for what he described as “radical transparency,” urging OpenAI to publish traces from the “rogue” AI agent so researchers can analyse the incident.

He also called on the company to commit $100 million in computing resources to help the Hugging Face community develop stronger AI-powered cybersecurity tools.

“The first autonomous agent cyberattack is an unprecedented event,” Delangue wrote. “It deserves an unprecedented response!”

Questions Over The Cause

While the incident has raised concerns about autonomous AI systems, some cybersecurity experts have suggested it may have resulted from human error rather than the model’s behaviour alone, pointing to reports that OpenAI’s testing environment may not have been fully isolated.

The incident has highlighted the importance of both AI safety measures and secure deployment practices as companies expand the use of autonomous systems.

OpenAI Reviewing The Incident

An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the meeting with Delangue and said the company is continuing its investigation.

“This is an unprecedented incident, and we think it marks an important moment for AI safety,” OpenAI said. “We are still conducting a thorough review along with external advisors and with oversight from our Safety and Security Committee. Once the review is complete, we plan to publish a technical report of our learnings in the coming weeks.”

The company said it plans to release the findings of its review in the coming weeks.

eCredo
Aretilaw firm
The Future Forbes Realty Global Properties
Uol

Become a Speaker

Become a Speaker

Become a Partner

Subscribe for our weekly newsletter