northern ireland tourism statistics 2022

Northern Ireland enjoys record breaking tourist numbers

• Tuesday 14 February 2023 at 8:17pm

Marc Mallett

Reporter, UTV News

Tourism NI says more people from the Republic of Ireland are coming north for day trips and overnight breaks than ever before. They're also spending more too.

The Republic’s Central Statistics Office estimates 809,172 trips were made to Northern Ireland in the first 9 months of 2022. Up from 530,309 - that's a 52.6% increase on the same pre-Covid period in 2019.

And it's not just day trippers helping boost numbers - the figures, which cover the peak summer months, show a significant increase in the number of overnight stays with 1,942,779 nights from Jan-Sept 2022. Up by 46.4% compared to the same period in 2019.

As a result the economy benefitted from a spend of £164m over the nine months. That's £66.5m more than in 2019 - a massive increase of 68.3% on 2019, when visitors spent around £97.5m.

Tourism NI Chief Executive, John McGrillen, says "what we're seeing is a huge uplift in the numbers of people who have been coming over the last six, seven years. So we're delighted with what we're seeing and the results coming through".

While Tourism NI's high profile 'Embrace a Giant Spirit' charm offensive in the Republic has helped promote our world class and world renowned tourist attractions, John McGrillen believes the people in NI are key to the success of the tourism offering.

"Well the 'Embrace a Giant Spirit' is really about the people and that's what that brand is all about. It's about getting the message across that Northern Ireland is a very warm and a very welcoming place and sometimes that's not the perception that people have of the place," he explained.

"What we find is when people leave that they tell us that their experience has been much better than they anticipated. And 70% of businesses the Republic of Ireland say that they will be back."

So how will 2023 measure up against 2022? Well we know it won't be without its challenges. After all, being a tourist costs money and we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis.

“Looking ahead we are optimistic for 2023. Visitors to Northern Ireland have more to look forward to including the multi-million pound upgrade of Titanic Belfast, screen tourism attractions including the Game of Thrones Studio tour and a growing number of Derry Girls experiences, a burgeoning food and drink offering and festivals and events that are special to Northern Ireland" says John McGrillen.

And at least we don't have to impress our Southern visitors with the weather!

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Leading visitor attractions in Northern Ireland 2019-2022, by attendance

Most visited tourist attractions in northern ireland from 2019 to 2022 (in 1,000 visitors).

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United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)

2019 to 2022

figures exclude country parks, parks, forests, and gardens; attractions are ranked based on the highest number of visitors in 2022

This statistic is using original data from the Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland) and includes copyright material from © Crown, licensed under the Open Government License v3.0 .

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Statistics on " Visitor attractions in the United Kingdom (UK) "

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Developing tourism strategy and policy in Northern Ireland.

Tourism Strategy

The department is leading on development of a Tourism Strategy for Northern Ireland to 2030 to provide a co-ordinated and focussed approach across the industry, for Tourism Northern Ireland and Tourism Ireland and for all government departments and public authorities in shaping the future direction of the growth of the sector, growth that will be sustainable, inclusive and innovative.

The vision of the Tourism Strategy is a tourism sector which contributes to the delivery of the department’s 10X Economic Vision of positioning Northern Ireland amongst the most competitive small, advanced economies in the world.

It will provide a framework for tourism to help ensure the region can maximise its contribution to growing the Northern Ireland economy and secure its role as an important export sector and provider of employment.

Tourism legislation

Northern Ireland is unique within the UK as there is a statutory requirement to inspect all accommodation properties offering temporary visitor accommodation to ensure they are compliant with the minimum standard as set out in legislation.

Over the last few years new trends in the type of visitor accommodation available have emerged within the Northern Ireland market. Unfortunately, the legislation has not kept pace with these changes. A review is therefore needed to ensure it is brought up to date to meet the needs of a growing industry.

Initial work was undertaken in the early part of 2020 but was paused due to the global pandemic. It has now recommenced and departmental officials are working with TNI on taking it forward to ensure that Northern Ireland can offer a more diverse range of certified accommodation.

Liaison with tourism agencies and partnership role

Tourism Branch is the departmental partner team for Tourism NI and Tourism Ireland.

Tourism NI (previously Northern Ireland Tourist Board) has responsibility for the development of tourism product and experience across Northern Ireland and is also responsible for the marketing of Northern Ireland as a tourist destination to visitors within Northern Ireland and from the Republic of Ireland.

• Tourism NI website
• Tourism NI board information

Tourism Ireland

Tourism Ireland was set up under the Good Friday Agreement and is responsible for:

• marketing the island of Ireland as a tourist destination in Great Britain and in 22 overseas markets
• helping Northern Ireland to achieve its tourism potential
• Tourism Ireland website

NI Annual Tourism Performance 2019

Due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), face to face surveys across Ireland have been disrupted which has impacted the collection of tourism statistics. The last full year of tourism statistics currently available is 2019 which was published in October 2020.

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) reinitiated survey activity in summer 2022 following lifting of Covid restrictions. The NISRA report is planned for 2024.

The latest NISRA tourism statistics for January to December 2019 show that local tourism continued to show positive growth with increases in overall visitor numbers and spend over the year.

In Northern Ireland, our tourism sector has become a huge success story. In 2019, the sector contributed £1 billion to the local economy, including delivering £731 million in export earnings. The sector employed approximately 71,000 people throughout the region, accounting for one in every 12 jobs. Employment was geographically dispersed with 70% of those jobs outside of Belfast offering inclusive opportunities and benefits throughout all regions and to all ages.

The increase in visitor spend has been driven by strong growth in the GB and ROI markets.

• Tourism statistics

Air connectivity

Key to progressing the Tourism Strategy is NI’s air connectivity. Our work is focused on developing air routes with the potential to support inward investment, exports and inbound tourism to grow the NI economy. 

Aviation connectivity research

Related to Tourism

Most recent publications, equality screening - draft tourism strategy for northern ireland: 10 year plan.

07 November 2023

Equality screening - Tourism – The Grading Inspection of Certified Tourist Establishments (Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023

27 July 2023

Most recent news items

Uefa euro 2028 is once in a lifetime opportunity for north’s economy: murphy.

16 April 2024

Time to grasp all-island economic opportunities – Murphy

27 March 2024

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Review of Tourism Accommodation Policy 2015–2020

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Inbound Tourism March 2024

• Background Notes

Over 521,800 foreign visitors departed Ireland in March 2024

Periodicity.

Annual/Monthly.

Inbound travel patterns of foreign residents visiting Ireland, which involve overnight stays and same-day trips, and associated variables.

All foreign resident visitors departing Ireland on overseas air and sea routes. Foreign resident visitors who depart Ireland via Northern Ireland are not covered. Foreign resident cruise excursionists who visit Ireland are also not covered.

The purpose of the Inbound Tourism statistical series is to measure the travel patterns (trips, nights, purpose of trip, type of accommodation, expenditure, etc.) of foreign resident visitors to Ireland.  The series is one of several Central Statistics Office (CSO) tourism series conducted to comply with the requirements of Council Directive 95/57/EC of 23 November 1995 concerning the collection of statistical information in the field of tourism for data to the end of 2011 and Regulation (EU) No 692/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 concerning European statistics on tourism and repealing Council Directive 95/57/EC in respect of data from the beginning of 2012.

Data Collection

Information is collected via the Passenger Survey , an ongoing survey of departing passengers at Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Knock and Shannon Airports, and at Dublin Port, Europort Rosslare and Ringaskiddy Port.

Why departing passengers (as opposed to arriving passengers). There are three reasons for this:

• EU Regulation on tourism statistics specifies that it is the date of departure, rather than the date of arrival, that determines the reference month for tourism flows. Surveying departing passengers aligns with this concept.
• The full details of a trip are not always known the moment a visitor first arrives in a country. This is particularly the case in relation to expenditure, where the visitor will not usually know exactly how much he/she will spend on their trip. Surveying departing passengers only, when the full trip details are known, avoids this ambiguity.
• From an operational perspective, it is easier to survey departing passengers (whilst waiting at an airport departure gate or waiting to board a vessel) than arriving passengers (who often depart directly the airport or port facilities).

The Passenger Survey is conducted by CSO enumerators and consists of enumerator-led interviews of a sample of departing passengers. The data is captured by the enumerators using of an electronic questionnaire hosted on tablets and mobile devices. The questionnaire captures information on the flight or sailing of the departing passenger, their residency, reason for travel, their length of stay in the country, the accommodation types they used and various expenditure information such as their fare cost, accommodation cost and day-to-day expenditure.

The Passenger Survey was first trialled in Dublin Airport in 2019 then, following a hiatus due to COVID-19, was fully implemented in Dublin Airport in 2022, before being rolled out to the other airports and seaports in early 2023.

Sample Design

The Passenger Survey employs a hybrid sample design. At Dublin Airport, where the main enumeration effort is made, a two-stage cluster sample approach is used. A sample of departing flights (clusters) is randomly selected. Then the enumerators interview a systematic sample of passengers preparing to board those flights. At Cork, Kerry, Knock and Shannon Airports, where flight departures are less frequent, a different approach is used. Enumerators are allocated rotating shifts that represent the full range of flight activity. The enumerators then attempt to interview a sample of passengers on all flights departing in their shifts. At the seaports, where sailings are even less frequent, a different approach again is taken. A systematic sample of departing sailings is selected and the enumerators then attempt to interview as many passengers as possible preparing to board these vessels. The overall sample size of the  Passenger Survey  in March 2024 was 14,703 passengers.

Series Volatility

Due to difficulties scaling up the enumerator field-force, the Passenger Survey has not yet fully reached its target size (at least 15,000 passenger interviews per month). This has implications for some of the series estimates, particularly the country of residence breakdowns, which often entail estimating relatively small proportions of the travelling population (see Table 2). Consequently, there is a significant imprecision in these estimates and this manifests as volatility in the month-on-month reporting of some of the less frequent residence categories. Instead of limiting this information the CSO has decided to publish the relatively extensive residency breakdown in the expectation that the sample size issue will be short-lived. In the interim, the user of these statistics should be mindful of the imprecision inherent in these estimates, particularly in May and June 2023 when the sample size was just 8,009 and 7,669 passengers respectively.

Definitions

Means the activity of visitors taking a trip to a main destination outside their usual environment, for less than a year, for any main purpose, including business, leisure or other personal purpose, other than to be employed by a resident entity in the place visited.

Usual Environment

The usual environment of an individual is defined as the geographical area (though not necessarily a contiguous one) within which an individual conducts his/her regular life routines.  Places that are frequently visited are part of a person’s  usual environment  even though they may be located at a considerable distance (or in another country) from the place of residence. For the purposes of this release, trips taken on a weekly or more frequent basis are considered to be within a respondent’s usual environment and are thus excluded from estimates for tourism trips.  The one exception being that of holiday homes which although may be frequently visited, are considered outside the  usual environment  according to the UNWTO 2008 International Recommendations on Tourism Statistics (IRTS).

Inbound Tourism

Inbound tourism is defined as the activities of foreign residents travelling to and staying in places within the Republic of Ireland and outside their usual environment. It is important to note that trips by Northern Ireland residents to the Republic, whilst technically classed as inbound tourism, are excluded from these series for practical reasons. Northern Ireland residents who depart the Republic via an airport or seaport in the Republic, are assumed to the same day visitors simply transiting through. 

A Visitor is defined as 'any person travelling to a place other than that of his/her usual environment for less than twelve months and whose main purpose is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited'. 

Same Day Visitor

A same day visitor is a visitor who spends no more than one day in the country visited. They do not stay overnight.

Overnight Visitor

An overnight visitor is a visitor who stays at least one night in the country visited.

A trip refers to the travel by a person from the time of departure from his/her usual residence until he/she returns: it thus refers to a round trip. A trip may be made up of visits to different places. Only trips by foreign residents to Ireland are included in the Inbound Tourism series.

Reported are foreign resident overnight and same-day trips that ended in the reference month. Note that the overnight foreign resident visitors may have arrived in Ireland prior to the reference month (e.g. if a visitor arrived in Ireland in May 2023 and departed in June 2023, this would be classed as a June 2023 trip).

Included are all trips for personal or professional purposes (e.g. holidays, visiting friends or relatives, business or professional trips, sporting or religious events, medical visits, shopping trips). Excluded are all trips that are part of normal work routines, such as trips by aircrew, sea crew and commercial vehicle drivers. 

Country of Residence

Country of Residence is defined as the country in which the person has resided during the greater part of the 12 months prior to being interviewed.

Departing Passenger Categories

All passengers departing Ireland on overseas routes are divided into one of five categories;

• Outbound Irish; these are Irish residents heading abroad for tourism or other purposes. Irish residents (which may include foreign nationals) are those who have lived in Ireland for at least the last 12 months.
• Same Day Visitor: Northern Ireland; these are residents of Northern Ireland departing the Island of Ireland through an airport or sea port in the Republic of Ireland. It is assumed that these residents of Northern Ireland are merely transiting through the Republic to avail of the various additional overseas travel routes on offer. Therefore, these passengers are categorised as same day visitors.
• Same Day Visitor: Transfer; these are foreign residents who travel to an Irish airport solely for the purpose of catching a connecting flight to a foreign destination. They are usually in the country for just an hour or so and are therefore considered same day visitors. Transfer passengers are not the same as transit passengers, who remain onboard their aircraft before it flies on to a further destination. Transit passengers are outside the scope of this Inbound Tourism.
• Same Day Visitor: Other; these are foreign resident departing passengers, other than Northern Irish residents or transfer passengers, who depart an Irish airport or seaport on the same day they arrived. Examples include business travellers flying in and out on the same day for a business meeting or travellers flying in and out for a family funeral.
• Overnight Foreign Resident Visitors; these are departing foreign resident visitors to Ireland whose trip has comprised at least one overnight stay in the country.

Nights refer to the number of nights stayed in the country by the foreign resident visitors. By definition, same day visitors spend no nights in the country. It is important to note that the number of nights reported in a particular reference month refer to the cumulative trip nights spent in the country by the visitor departing that reference month. They are not apportioned out over individual months. Thus a visitor who arrives in Ireland on 24 May and departs on 8 June will be classed as having spent 14 nights in the country as he departs in June (even though 7 of those nights were actually spent in May). Seasonal factors (e.g. foreign students departing the country at the end of term) may inflate the number of nights reported in specific months (e.g. December).

Main Reason for Travel

The main reason for travel is the primary purpose for which the visitor came to Ireland. A visitor may have multiple reasons for visiting Ireland, but only the main reason is reported.

Main Accommodation Type

Main accommodation type is the type of accommodation the visitors used more than any other type. Very often, visitors will stay in only one accommodation type and this is their main accommodation type by default. If visitors stay in more than one accommodation type, the type they spent the most nights in is designated their main accommodation type.

Expenditure

Expenditure covers all routine expenditure relating directly to a trip. Expenditure is divided into four categories:

• Fares; the cost of air and ferry tickets to travel to and from Ireland.
• Prepayments; purchases of services in Ireland (e.g. car hire, tour bookings, concert tickets, etc, but excluding accommodation) undertaken in advance of the trip and relating directly to the trip.
• Accommodation; the cost of hotels, guesthouses, rented holiday homes etc, during the trip.
• Day-to-day expenditure; These are all other routine costs incurred during the trip. These include the cost of eating out, the purchase of gifts and routine consumables, tour and equipment costs (where not prepaid in advance of the trip) and other incidental expenses.

All expenditure relates to individual expenditure. Where visitors travel as a group and can only provide the cost of the group fare, group accommodation, etc. these group costs are divided by the number of persons in the travelling party to estimate the individual costs. The expenditure covers both payments made by the travelling party and all expenses paid for or reimbursed by others (e.g. an employer).

Fares only cover the cost of travelling directly to and from Ireland. Where a visitor purchases a ticket covering multiple destinations only the cost of the direct route to Ireland is nominally included (e.g. if a US visitor flies from John F Kennedy Airport to Heathrow Airport and from there to Dublin Airport, only the Heathrow-Dublin element of the fare is included). In these cases the visitor is assigned the median fare of those who only travel the direct route. For those who travel to Ireland by ferry, their accompanying vehicle (if any) is included in the cost of the fare.

Package fares are assumed to cover the cost of both fares and accommodation. Visitors who package fares are assigned a median fare based on their travel route and the remainder of their package costs are assumed to be their accommodation costs.

Prepayments only cover the purchases of services in Ireland. The purchase of travel-related services in other countries (e.g. airport parking at their point of embarkation to Ireland) are excluded.

Accommodation costs cover all direct costs associated with booking a room, bed or space in the accommodation premises. The purchase of additional services from the accommodation provider (e.g. an evening meal or on-site parking) are classed as day-to-day expenditures (or prepayments, when booked in advance). Note that nights spent with friends or relatives or in the visitors own properties are assumed to be unpaid accommodation.

Excluded from trip costs are any expenditure on housing, land, real estate, goods for resale, donations to charities/institutions or cash presents/payments to relatives and friends who are not part of the travel party.

Individual figures have been rounded independently and the sum of the component items therefore may not necessarily add to the totals shown.

List of Countries - Inbound Tourism 

Relationships to other cso tourism series.

The Inbound Tourism series complements the Household Travel Survey series in that whilst the former reports statistics on Inbound Tourism, the latter reports statistics on Domestic Tourism (Irish residents travelling within Ireland) and Outbound Tourism (Irish residents travelling abroad). Definitions and classifications between the two sets of series are harmonised as closely as possible and statistics on Outbound Tourism are calibrated to departing Irish resident passenger numbers compiled from the Passenger Survey . Taken together, the Inbound Tourism series and the Household Travel Survey series provide a very comprehensive overview of all tourism activities impacting the state.

The Inbound Tourism series also complements the Air and Sea Travel Statistics compiled and published during the COVID-19 era (and updated and maintained on a monthly basis in the CSO Database system:

Air and Sea Travel Statistics, ASM01, ASM02, ASM03

Whilst the Air and Sea Travel Statistics reports the overall number of passengers arriving and departing on overseas routes, the Inbound Tourism series provides the detailed characteristics of the departing passengers. The Inbound Tourism series is weighted to the number of departing passengers reported in the Air and Sea Travel Statistics .

The Inbound Tourism series is also related to the former Overseas Travel series (published monthly up to February 2020) and the former Tourism and Travel series (published quarterly to the fourth quarter of 2019), in that all three sets of series report on the characteristics of foreign resident visitors who travel on overseas routes to Ireland. However, care must be taken comparing the Inbound Tourism series to both the Overseas Travel series and Tourism and Travel series. The Inbound Tourism series is compiled using a very different sampling methodology and a very different mode of data collection. Therefore, the results of the respective series are not directly comparable. The Inbound Tourism series should be seen as a completely new and different statistical series rather than a continuation or update of the Overseas Travel and Tourism and Travel series.

Methodological Review

The Inbound Tourism series is a new statistical series based on an updated sampling methodology and data collection process. This new methodology represents a significant improvement on the previous methodology, particularly in terms of the sampling and a move to a fully digitised process, and this produces an enhanced measurement of inbound tourism in Ireland. In line with best practice, the CSO monitors the quality of its methodological processes and outputs of its statistical work.   As part of the review process for this series, a range of validation exercises have been conducted including a review of the raw passenger data by destination and the change to surveying departing passengers only (versus the previously applied process of surveying arriving and departing passengers).  The CSO will continue to review its application and outcomes over the coming months.

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NI Tourism Performance Dashboard

The ni tourism performance statistics dashboard details annual key performance indicators, accommodation figures, spend statistics and access into ni..

Deeper analysis of consumer demographics and reasons for travel help to better understand our customers, and local government district (LGD) level breakdowns allow for a more comprehensive understanding of tourism performance across NI.

All data is sourced from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

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• Regional and local government
• Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland tourism alternative data sources: March 2023

The statistics will include a range of information on the most up to date tourism statistics.

Applies to Northern Ireland

https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/northern-ireland-tourism-latest-alternative-data-sources-march-2023

NISRA Tourism Statistics have published an alternative document containing information from a range of sources which users may find useful in the absence of our regular published data.

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