TOURISTS from the Irish Republic spent the best part of £200,000 a day on overnight trips to Northern Ireland last year, official figures show.
The cross-border visitor spend in 2016 was £70 million, according to Dublin's Central Statistics Office (CSO).
That was up £9 million, or 15 per cent, on in 2015 as 160,000 people got their heads down at seaside, city or rural destinations across the north.
They made a total of 456,000 trips (up 36 per cent) and spent a total of 1,007,000 bed nights (up 18 per cent) in Northern Ireland last year.
Tourism NI chief executive John McGrillen said: “Growing Republic of Ireland visitor numbers and spend is a key objective for Tourism NI.
"The 19 per cent increase in holiday trips is particularly welcome and shows that the visitor market from the Republic is vital to the local tourism sector."
He added: “We launched our 'Say Hello to More' advertising campaign in September, working collaboratively with the industry to combine our marketing efforts.
"The growth in visitor numbers and spend is encouraging for the tourism industry and proves the power and significant return on investment when we work together."
Tourism NI’s research supports the positive findings of the CSO statistics and signals a positive outlook for 2017, with most tourism operators anticipating continued growth in the year ahead.
Mr McGrillen added: “The growth in Republic of Ireland visitors to Northern Ireland signals a shift in our reputation as a short break destination. We are committed to working in partnership with the tourism industry to build on this success into 2017 and beyond.”
