Sales at the Artists Open Studios Whanganui weekends jumped nearly 50 per cent this year, while visitor numbers increased by more than 70 per cent.
This year's Open Studios has been hailed a great success, with sales topping $170,000 and visitor numbers reaching 5200.
Open Studios is an annual event that sees local artists open their studios to the public. This year, its 14th year, it was held March 22-23 and 29-30.
Thee chairwoman of the Artists Open Studios Trust, Elysabeth Wolter, said some studios had seen up to 800 visitors a day. "We're absolutely delighted."
Ms Wolter put this year's success down to strategic marketing. She said the campaign had focused mostly on out-of-town visitors.
"We had a big campaign in Wellington, Palmerston North and New Plymouth, and we also did some marketing at the Martinborough Festival.
"It was the first time any effort had been put into marketing in Palmerston North - it's a hard market to get into - and that made a huge difference," Ms Wolter said.
She said Open Studios had also had a greater presence on social media, such as Facebook, this year.
Ms Wolter said "clusters" of artists had done particularly well, such as the artists at Greg Betts' Brickstix, those at the Duncan Pavilion, and the group exhibiting in Waverley.
One of the critics of this year's Open Studios was potter Ross Mitchell-Anyon who, a month before the event started, accused the organisation of being in disarray.
He was concerned the marketing - particularly the distribution of the arts trail guide - was left too late.
With hindsight, Mr Mitchell-Anyon said his earlier concerns had been valid.
"However, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting," he said.
"In the end, these things usually do turn out quite well."
Mr Mitchell-Anyon said he had had a couple of hundred people through his studio, which was about what he had expected.
"My impression was that I had fewer out-of-town visitors, but I'm not sure if that was actually the case."