Domestic visitor numbers to the Northern Territory are thriving but international visitation continues to struggle in the area, according to Tourism Minister Matt Conlan.

Latest research shows an increase of 16 percent in domestic visitors to 1.06 million in year ending June 2012.

Mr Colan welcomed the news of the domestic growth which is the first in the Territory since June 2009.

Driven by more visitors travelling to each of the Darwin, Kakadu Arnhem and Katherine Daly regions, the Top End experienced the highest growth with visitors up 20 percent and nights up 19 percent.

“However, growth is not across the board and we need to revitalise our approach to stimulate further demand across the Territory,” the Minister commented.

Visitation remained soft in Central Australia, with no change in visitor numbers or nights from 2010 to 2011.

Fewer visits were recorded in both the Alice Springs and Lasseter regions as use of air transport continued to decline due to the reduction of services to both Alice Springs and Yulara.

“These results illustrate why this Government has made tourism a pillar of our three-hub economy,” Mr Conlan said.

The Minister also pointed out there is a lot more to be done to grow and disperse this domestic recovery and to arrest the decline in international tourism, particularly in Central Australia.

The number of international visitors dropped by 14 percent to 263,000 visitors for the same period, a result of the decline of the Territory’s key European markets and the UK declined into Australia.

Surprisingly there was encouraging growth from the USA (up 7 percent) and North East Asia (including China) which grew by 9.1 percent.