The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has
published the Annual Tourism Statistics for
Northern Ireland (NI) for the 2023 reference year (the most
recent available data) and Air Passenger Flow
Statistics.
The statistics are for the calendar year 2023 and mark the return
to regular scheduling of NI Annual tourism statistics since the
Covid-19 pandemic. The previous NI Annual Tourism figures were
published for the 2019 calendar year in October 2020.
This break in series was due to the unprecedented impact of the
Covid-19 pandemic on the collection of tourism statistics. During
this period, in the absence of regular published data, NISRA
produced an ‘Alternative Source'document
containing a wide range of tourism related statistics produced by
both NISRA and other sources.
In March 2024, NISRA published the Tourism Satellite Account for
2019 which estimated the economic impact of direct Tourism in
NI to be £0.9billion.
This morning's statistical release provides a variety of measures
including estimates on the number of overnight trips in NI, the
number of nights these overnight trips equate to and the
associated expenditure including staying in local accommodation
such as self-catering, hotels and other establishments.
Today's figures estimate that there were 5.4million overnight
trips to NI in 2023 with an associated £1.2billion
expenditure. It is important to note that this report is a
stand-alone publication that establishes a baseline year using a
revised methodology. As such, the results are not directly
comparable to previous years.
The key points of the release are:
- In 2023, there were an estimated 5.4million overnight trips
in Northern Ireland, with associated expenditure of £1.2billion.
This includes overnight trips taken by external visitors to NI
and domestic trips taken by local residents.
- External visitors were estimated to take 3.3million overnight
trips to Northern Ireland in 2023. Expenditure associated with
these trips was £0.9billion.
- In 2023, 2.1million overnight trips were made by local
residents (domestic trips). Domestic trips made up 40% of
overnight trips, highlighting the importance of the domestic
tourism market.
- In 2023, the hotel room occupancy in Northern Ireland was
64%.
- The estimated room occupancy for guest houses, bed &
breakfasts and guest accommodation for 2023 was 38%.
- In 2023, there were 5,845 tourism businesses operating in
Northern Ireland. Over three quarters (77%) of these were outside
of Belfast City Council.
Notes to editors:
- The statistical report and associated tables are available on
the NISRA website at: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/tourism/annual-and-quarterly-tourism-statistics-publications
- The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency wishes to
thank the participating households and Ports for their
co-operation in agreeing to take part in the surveys and for
facilitating the collection of the relevant data. Thanks also to
Central Statistics Office Ireland for the supply of CSO data.
- There were no 2020-2022 NI Annual Tourism publications due to
the coronavirus pandemic restrictions forcing a halt to tourism
activities, impacting on tourism data collection and, (when data
collection resumed when restrictions were lifted), the production
of statistics due to the resultant small sample sizes achieved.
- Caution should be taken when interpreting these data. Data
are not directly comparable to previous NI Annual Tourism
statistics due to methodological changes. This is the case for
all data with the exception of Occupancy and Economic Tourism
Statistics (i.e. Businesses, Employee Jobs etc.). Additionally,
data are not adjusted for inflation.
- The Annual Tourism Statistics will be of interest to tourism
policy makers, public bodies, the tourism business community,
economic commentators, academics, and the general public with an
interest in Tourism and the local economy.
- The next scheduled release of the NI Annual Tourism
Statistics published on the NISRA website spring 2025.
