Tourist arrivals for March 2004 recorded a sharp increase of 22% compared to the corresponding month of 2003, when arrivals had suffered a decline of 34% due to the war in Iraq. However, tourist arrivals for March (112,000) have showed a decline of 19% compared to 2001 and 2002, when they reached 138 thousand. Tourist arrivals for March 2003 reached 92 thousand.

For January-March 2004, tourist arrivals increased 6.6% to 244,155 compared to the corresponding period of 2003 (229,136), but they are lower by 7.7% compared to 2002 (264,642) and 14.4% to 2001 (285,358).

This increase is mostly attributable to the partial recovery of the British market (+14%) and the German market (+48%), as well as the impressive increase in the Greek tourist arrivals (+72%!). The Greek, the Irish and the Swedish tourist arrivals have recorded an increase compared to 2002.