Carnival Cruise Lines will be introducing cruises in the Mediterranean as from 2004 and Malta could feature in the company's itineraries.

The announcement was made by Carnival Cruise Lines' business development manager Viviana Natta when she distributed certificates to travel agents who sold Carnival cruises last year.

Special awards were given to Wetland Travel and Hamilton Travel for their best performance in individual travel and group travel respectively.

Ms Natta, who has been working with Carnival for the past seven years, said that although the September 11 tragedy affected the tourism industry "we went ahead with our plans and we are still going to be there".

"The delivery of three new 'fun ships', including the newest Carnival Legend - scheduled to operate the line's first-ever European cruise from London on August 24 - and a record number of embarkation ports and 'short' cruise options will, hopefully, make us have a successful year again," she said.

A further three ships are under construction.

The Carnival Glory, the second Conquest-class ship, is scheduled for delivery in summer 2003; Carnival Miracle, the fourth in the Spirit-class is slated to enter service in spring of 2004 and another Conquest-class ship, the Carnival Valor, is expected to debut in summer 2004, bringing the total number of ships to 21.