Above: Martinique (Caribbean Journal photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Martinique is reporting strong growth in tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2014.

The French Caribbean department received 159,253 tourist stopover arrivals in the first three months of 2014, a 5.1 percent improvement over the first quarter of 2013, according to new data released by the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

That was among the highest rates of improvement in the Caribbean region in that period.

The island also saw significant growth in cruise tourism in the same period, with a 69.8 percent improvement over 2013.

Overall, the island welcomed 101,956 cruise passenger arrivals, compared to 60,057 in the first quarter of 2013.

That was the largest increase of any Caribbean destination’s cruise numbers in the first quarter.