Tourism activity in Northern Ireland is estimated to be back above pre-pandemic levels as new figures show more than five million overnight visits were recorded in the last year.
Figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency show an estimated £1.2billion in expenditure from tourism in the year 2023, from a total of 5.4million overnight trips.
It marks the first full tourism report published by the statistics agency since the Covid-19 pandemic.
While NISRA says the results are “not directly comparable” to other years, the last full report published in 2020 for 2019 showed there were an estimated 5.3 million overnight trips in Northern Ireland, with estimated expenditure at £1billion.
The new figures include overnight trips taken by external visitors to the north and domestic trips taken by local residents.
External visitors were estimated to take 3.3million overnight trips to the north in 2023, while expenditure associated with these trips was £0.9billion.
In 2023, 2.1million overnight trips were made by local residents (domestic trips).
Economy Minister Conor Murphy welcomed the statistics, saying they laid a foundation for future growth in the tourism industry.
“Tourism is one of our key successes and a regional economic driver across the north. These figures go to show that the sector is thriving,” Mr Murphy said.
“The statistics come on the back of what I know was a difficult period across the industry, but there are real signs of optimism across the sector as we emerge stronger.
“While today’s figures cannot be directly compared to previous statistics, undoubtedly £1.2billion of tourism expenditure is a significant economic boost.”
