Londonderry’s recent UK City of Culture title increased tourism to the area by 50 per cent and pumped £47m into the economy in associated expenditure, according to statistics compiled by NISRA (the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency).

Londonderry was the inaugural city to bear the cultural badge in 2013, inspired by the success of the European Capital of Culture programme which was bestowed on Liverpool in 2008. Hull will be the next UK host in 2017.

The latest Local Government District Tourism Statistics 2013 for Northern Ireland were published on 27 November and take into account figures from all 11 Local Government Districts (LGD).

They cite a boost in overnight visits to Belfast (1.1m) and highlight the Causeway Coast & Glens area as the most popular among holidaymakers, accounting for 700,000 overnight trips. This translates as five trips to the district on a per capita basis, in contrast to Belfast LGD, which saw 3.4 trips per head of population.

The province’s most popular attraction in 2013 was Giant’s Causeway, with 754,000 visitors, followed by Titanic Belfast with 604,000 and Ulster Museum with 416,000.

The target to December 2014 is to have overnight visitor numbers reach 4.2m and annual associated revenue of £676m.