Tourism Performance Statistics

Tourism 360° Performance Update

The Tourism 360° Performance Update summarises the latest available research and insights including Northern Ireland hotel performance, Tourism NI's analysis of digital data sources and more.

To view the Tourism 360° Performance Update reports in full, please click below:

• Tourism 360° Performance Update - December 2025
• Tourism 360° Performance Update - September 2025
• Tourism 360° Performance Update - April 2025
• Tourism 360° Performance Update - December 2024
• Tourism 360° Performance Update - May 2024
• Tourism 360° Performance Update - November 2023
• Tourism 360° Performance Update - August 2023

NI Annual and Quarterly Tourism Performance

Summary reports published by Tourism NI

Annual and Quarterly Tourism Performance Statistics are published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) and the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Tourism Northern Ireland produces reports to provide an overview of these and other statistics, together with industry sentiment. 

Annual Statistics

Full year 2024 figures released by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) relating to overnight trips taken in Northern Ireland (NI) are presented below.

NISRA data indicates a downturn in our closer to home visitor numbers in 2024, broadly stable visitors from Great Britain (GB) and strong growth from Other Overseas visitors.  Encouragingly, North American trips were up by one quarter compared to January-December 2023 with NI’s food and drink offering as well as world class attractions being the main influences driving visits.

2024 saw declines in holiday trips and those visiting friends/relatives. Business trips saw a smaller decline, while those visiting for other reasons grew by 10%.

The proportion of overnight trips taken outside Belfast in 2024 (69%) remains unchanged from last year.

NISRA hotel and small service accommodation performance data points to growth in room occupancies and increases of 11% and 8%, respectively, in room sales during January-December 2024. Self-catering occupancy was also up on 2023 levels.

Tourism NI’s sentiment research with NI and ROI consumers (September 2024) highlighted competition from abroad, and the increased impact of cost-of-living on travel behaviours. NISRA’s outbound tourism statistics report declines in NI residents’ trips to all markets except Other Overseas in 2024, suggesting that holidays abroad were prioritised over trips closer to home, possibly linked to a drop in NI’s value for money perception.

Looking ahead to 2025, Tourism NI’s latest consumer sentiment research in NI and the Republic of Ireland (ROI) indicates that stable NI trip intentions were evident for both domestic and ROI consumers.

Quarterly Statistics

Figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) relating to overnight trips taken by Republic of Ireland residents in Northern Ireland and in the ROI are presented below.

A strong ROI to NI perfromance was evident for the first nine months of the year compared to January-September 2024. In contrast, ROI domestic trips and nights declined, possibly linked to the ongoing perception amongst ROI residents (as reported in Tourism NI's latest Consumer Sentiment Research) that NI offers better value for money than ROI and GB, as well as memorable experiences. Tourism NI's research and other indicators report that the impact of cost-of-living has weighed heavily on the Irish consumer this year.

Figures released by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) relating to overnight trips taken in Northern Ireland (NI) between January-September 2025 are presented below:    

During January-September 2025, there were over 3.8 million overnight trips taken in NI, accounting for over 12 million nights and almost £918 million expenditure. Overnight trips and spend increased by 6% and 10%, respectively. Nights saw a smaller increase of just 1%. 

The increase in overall performance was largely driven by the ROI and GB markets, with positive performance from these markets during January-September 2025 offsetting the declines from Domestic and Other Overseas visitors.

Those overnightting to visit friends and relatives saw the largest increase in visitor number (+103,005) in January-September 2025 vs January-September 2024, followed by holidays trips (+58,972).

Day trip performance in the 12 months to September 2025 experienced strong growth of almost two-fifths, with the number of domestic day trips and its associated expenditure increasing by 46% and 33% respectively.

Previous reports: