Northern Ireland tourism minister Arlene Foster has launched a new £1.2m tourism marketing campaign in a bid to attract more visitors to the country from mainland Britain.

The initiative, which will be led by Tourism Ireland, aims to promote a wide range of visitor experiences on offer, while also complementing the agency's autumn marketing campaign unveiled in August. Industry partners - including the Belfast Visitor Convention Bureau, ferry company Stena Line and airlines Aer Lingus and Ryanair, will help the campaign through co-operative marketing activities.

Foster said: "While Northern Ireland has been the best performing region of the UK in recent years, it and the global tourism industry continues to be hit by the worldwide recession. "The new Tourism Ireland campaign will reaffirm Northern Ireland's commitment to tourism and by investing in marketing campaigns during the bad times, we can help the region to hold on to its market share and position it to take advantage of the upturn when it comes."