Visitor arrivals in 2003 closed the year having fallen some 7.7% to 122,038 from the 2002 level of 132,246.

The drop follows what the industry and government alike have agreed was a difficult year for the country's premier industry, but the single figure fall will have been better than many tourism trade watchers feared.

From Europe, Seychelles largest continental tourist supplier, the visitors total fell below the 2002 level by 5.6%, equating to 5,969 tourists.

Of the European big four, France, Italy, the UK and Germany, only Germany was able to bolster its 2002 showing, with visitor figures tailing off in 2003 for the others.

France retained it's position as the largest tourist supplier, despite registering the second largest drop in arrivals, as 2,336 less French tourist made the trip to Seychelles than in 2002, bringing its country total down to 25,990.

The second largest supplier in 2002, Italy, also saw a significant decline in tourists to Seychelles, as its 2002 total of 20,000 fell by 2,222.

For its part, the British market was hit with a slight fall of around 200 visitors.

Despite suggestions earlier in the year that recession in Germany was helping to pull down the cumulative visitor arrivals figure, the German market actually closed the year as one of only two European countries to beat the arrivals downturn. A slight rise of some 750 visitors saw the German total increase to 15,903.

The other European country to buck the trend with an increase in tourists was the much smaller market of the CIS, which recorded an 18% up turn in visitors to Seychelles, taking its end of year figure to almost 3,400.

Visitors to Seychelles from the Iberian peninsula decreased by a dramatic          24%, or 812 visitors, possibly due to Spanish holiday makers deciding to stay at home due to their country's strong support for the Iraq war.

Seychelles second largest continental tourist supplier, Africa, continued to be lead by a dominant South African market.

South African visitors increased by 20% over the last twelve months, to 5,003, but the good news was offset by a 24% drop in visitors from the second placed African country, Mauritius

Mauritian visitors fell by 2,351, a move echoed by most other African tourist suppliers.

As a region African visitors to Seychelles fell in 2003 by a near negligible 3%.

The Asian market experienced a massive drop of 45% in 2003, mainly due to the plummeting number of Israeli visitors.

The number of Israeli tourists in Seychelles in 2003 nose dived by 2,346, to only 6% of its 2002 level, possibly due to the November 2002 bombing of an Israeli owned Mombassa hotel and simultaneous missile attack on an El Al jet in the same city, which heightened fears about travel to the region.

Visitors from the rest of the Middle East also fell, though the decrease was far smaller and came on the back of an all time record high in 2002.

Visitor figures from the Far East recorded large percentage falls in 2003, likely caused by the SARS outbreak, but given the low volume of arrivals from the region the actual down turn in figures was relatively small.

Despite widely discussed fears of long haul travel plaguing the US market, the number of American visitors contracted by only 161 visitors or 5% on the 2002 level, though the total number of visitors, 2,793, is still far below the 2001 high of 5,805.

An additional 42 people from Seychelles smallest continental tourist supplier, Oceania, made the journey in 2003 creating a 9% rise for the continent.

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