More than 500 British visitors arrived in Donegal town yesterday in a new tourism venture marking the northwest as a popular January holiday spot.
The visitors from the north of England opted to take their chances with the Donegal weather on a four-day package costing £99 - €144.50 - each.
The cross-Border venture hopes to attract more than 4,000 extra visitors across the Irish Sea to the northwest in the next three months - traditionally the region's worst tourism period.
It was devised by Destination North West Project, a €2 million cross- Border tourism marketing initiative and is funded by North West Tourism and local authority bodies in the North. There is an input from cross-Border groups working under the umbrellas of the EU and the Belfast Agreement.
Donegal greeted yesterday's arrivals with a special welcome ceremony in the town centre.
Mostly pensioners from social clubs and day centres, they were attracted by a low-cost package which included return coach and ferry trips, four nights bed and breakfast and evening meal in their hotels, country music evenings and tours of the surrounding countryside.
A spokesman for host company the White Hotels Group said: "We had one coach-load of visitors to the town this time last year. Now we're geared to greet over 70 coaches in the next three months."
The aim is to boost tourism in what is seen as the six counties struggling most to attract visitors - Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Derry and Tyrone.