year, the Finance Ministry reported this week.

Figures show 9,650 visitors passing through the airport in the week ending on Sunday, July 19. The total was a 2.4 percent higher than the same week last year when 9,426 visitors arrived on the Island.

A four-month tally from April 1, shows the Island recording a marginal increase over 1991 -- a year that saw tourism arrivals plunge below acceptable business levels in the wake of the Gulf War and the onset of recession.

Visitor arrivals figures for the year to date remain 4.6 percent, or nearly 10,000 people, below last year's result. The bulk of that decline was recorded during the first three months of the year when weekly arrivals were more than 20 percent off the previous periods.

Since the start of the busier summer season in April, arrival figures have stabilised at levels on par with 1991.