The number of visitors to Scotland has risen by eight per cent in the first nine months of this financial year according to the latest government statistics.
The results from 2011 International Passengers Survey and the GB Tourism Survey Quarters 1 - 3 show that overall spend by visitors has also gone up 11 per cent.
The domestic market continues to perform well, showing increases of 10 per cent in visitor numbers and 21 per cent in spend. Internationally, the number of visitors fell by four per cent but the number of people coming to Scotland from North America rose by 18 per cent.
Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing said: "The staycation market is continuing to boost visitor numbers and average spend also rising. We will continue to invest in this market and the recently launched Year of Creative Scotland will help generate even more opportunities to do so."
He added: "An 18 per cent increase in visitors from North America is extremely welcome and evidence that this market is continuing to pick-up after a tough time. This is off-set by an overall fall of four per cent in the number of international visitors to Scotland but we have to remember that tough times in the Eurozone will have an impact."
Ewing said there were a number of events coming up that could furthur bolster visitor numbers including the release this summer of Disney-Pixar's Brave, the Ryder Cup, the Commonwealth Games in 2014, and the government's second "Year of Homecoming" in 2014.
Mike Cantlay Chairman of VisitScotland said the staycation market is "particularly buoyant" at the moment. This has largely been down to the fall in the value of the pound, inflation, and continuing austerity measures.
Cantlay said that VisitScotland's domestic campaign "Surprise Yourself" has been tracking at 42 per cent advertising awareness - the highest for a number of years.
"The campaign has reached more than 16 million people since March 2011 and has brought in some £90m of economic benefit."
He added that this year's Year of Creative Scotland 2012 is "a once in a lifetime opportunity for tourism".
"It's an exciting time to be in tourism and we expect there will be many opportunities to increase the number of visitors coming to Scotland between now and 2014."