NICOSIA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Credit card transactions in Cyprus fell by 3 percent year-on-year in the first ten months of 2009, according to official data.

Credit card clearing agency JCC said that domestic transactions with credit cards conducted between January and October fell to 1.5 billion euros. Last month, the value of transactions fell 4 percent year-on-year to 142.12 million euros.

The statistics recorded a sharp decline in credit spending by foreign card holders, with transactions down by 17 percent year-on-year in Jan-Oct to 365.48 million euros, while in the month of October, credit card spending by visitors fell by 17 percent year-on-year to 45.58 million euros.

Tourism accounts for about 11 percent of Cyprus's gross domestic product. The economy is in recession after recording two successive quarters of negative growth this year.

Its earnings from tourism fell by 16.1 percent in the first nine months of 2009. A surge in the value of the euro against the pound over the past year has made Cyprus a significantly more expensive destination for tourists from Britain, its biggest market.

(Reporting by Sarah Ktisti; Editing by Patrick Graham) Keywords: CYPRUS CREDIT/

(sarah.ktisti@thomsonreuters.com; +357-22469674)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.