Published Thursday, 05 January 2012
The good news for the tourist sector comes in the latest government statistics released on Thursday by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.
Approximately 1.2 million overseas visitors spent an estimated £291m in Northern Ireland during the period between January and September 2011, up 20% on the same period in 2010.
Tourism Minister Arlene Foster has welcomed the news.
She said: "This promising performance is very timely given the recent launch of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board's NI2012 campaign, 'Your Time, Our Place' and momentum will increase as we move further into 2012."
The figures also show that local people took 1.5 million overnight trips within Northern Ireland, with an associated spend of £121m. In the same period residents also took 1.8 million tourism day trips within Northern Ireland.
The minister added: "The domestic market and the increasing popularity of the 'staycation' holiday is crucial to the long term sustainable growth of tourism in Northern Ireland."
"Tourism Ireland will also be rolling out a busy programme of promotional activity to target a range of potential visitors around the world in the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games and will be liaising ahead of the Games with VisitLondon and VisitBritain."