It wasn't that David Trimble wasn't excited about getting the Nobel Prize. He was. It was just that at 6 a.m. he was desperate for a little more sleep.

His aides had been busy throughout the night. They received the news by telephone at 3 a.m. and immediately began screening calls from the media and from those offering congratulations. But they decided to let Mr Trimble get a few more hours of rest.

Mr Trimble, Mr Seamus Mallon and a delegation of about 25 people have been on a gruelling two-week trip to promote business and investment in Northern Ireland.

"We've done five cities - New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto and Denver - in about five days," said an aide. "We have all been doing 15-hour days.

"First, we have a meeting with local businesses. Then we go on company visits. At night there are dinners. It has been incredibly intense."

Certainly as Mr Trimble graciously received news that he had won the Nobel Prize for Peace, he did and said all the right things, thanking the people of Northern Ireland, thanking Mr John Hume, voicing what is now called in politics "cautious optimism".

But listening to Mr Trimble it was obvious that, as nice a matter as the Nobel Prize is, it probably has little to do with the future of Northern Ireland. The future will be built on hard economic realities as symbols of all kinds fade.

"The future of the country is based on the economic underpinning, and that is what this trip has been all about," said Mr Trimble. "An economic foundation will be the real prize. And a lasting peace."

Part of Mr Trimble's formidable mission here has been to convince American businesses and investors that the image of Northern Ireland as a war-torn and dangerous place is outdated.

Based on the television images they see, many Americans think Northern Ireland differs little from Bosnia.

"We need to show that Northern Ireland has changed.

"It is safe and prosperous. The prize says a great deal about Northern Ireland as a community. This will help remove lingering doubts about traces of terrorism."

The business people Mr Trimble and the delegation have been meeting in the last two weeks probably had no idea they were chatting to a future Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Mr Trimble smiles at the thought and says: "I did not think it was going to happen, even after the speculation. I was just discounting the rumours as speculation."

Mr Trimble left Denver, Colorado, yesterday in a lashing rainstorm, but the rest of the delegation will remain to continue the economic development tour to six other cities.