What do the Northern Ireland tourism statistics measure?

Northern Ireland tourism statistics measure overnight trips, nights stayed, visitor expenditure, accommodation capacity and occupancy rates, alongside VAT or PAYE registered tourism enterprises.

Which regional breakdowns are available for Northern Ireland tourism?

Data on overnight trips and visitor expenditure in Northern Ireland are broken down by local council area, as well as by trip purpose such as holiday, business, or visiting friends and relatives.

Which accommodation types are included in the occupancy and room stock data?

Accommodation statistics cover room and bed occupancy rates and establishment counts for hotels, guesthouses, bed and breakfasts (B&Bs), and other guest accommodation across Northern Ireland.

How often are Northern Ireland tourism statistics published and what period do they cover?

Published annually by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), the dataset provides continuous annual tourism statistics for Northern Ireland since 2013.

Northern Ireland tourism statistics

Name: Northern Ireland tourism statistics
Creator: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
License: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Annual tourism statistics for Northern Ireland: overnight trips, nights and spending by purpose and by council area, hotel and guest accommodation occupancy rates and stock, and the number of VAT or PAYE registered tourism businesses.

Latest reading

All purposes stood at 5,096,136.06 Trips in 2025. That is +8.6% from 2024. The series on this page is annual and runs from 2023 to 2025. Source: Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Latest: 5,096,136.06 Trips; 2025
vs previous period: +8.6%; 2024

About this data

Frequently asked questions

What do the Northern Ireland tourism statistics measure?: Northern Ireland tourism statistics measure overnight trips, nights stayed, visitor expenditure, accommodation capacity and occupancy rates, alongside VAT or PAYE registered tourism enterprises.
Which regional breakdowns are available for Northern Ireland tourism?: Data on overnight trips and visitor expenditure in Northern Ireland are broken down by local council area, as well as by trip purpose such as holiday, business, or visiting friends and relatives.
Which accommodation types are included in the occupancy and room stock data?: Accommodation statistics cover room and bed occupancy rates and establishment counts for hotels, guesthouses, bed and breakfasts (B&Bs), and other guest accommodation across Northern Ireland.
How often are Northern Ireland tourism statistics published and what period do they cover?: Published annually by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), the dataset provides continuous annual tourism statistics for Northern Ireland since 2013.

Indicator	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
Overnight trips by purpose5
All purposes	5,096,136.06	4,692,193.94	5,398,927.25
Holiday	2,685,527.88	2,378,430.44	2,769,717.4
Visiting friends or relatives	1,747,040.61	1,722,093.13	2,046,520.82
Business	411,867.96	360,326.14	372,068.91
Other purposes	251,699.61	231,344.24	210,620.11
Nights stayed by purpose5
All purposes	15,018,557.16	14,941,655.24	16,501,800.35
Holiday	6,265,754.05	6,156,345.26	7,053,343.28
Visiting friends or relatives	6,472,631.36	6,440,115.66	7,663,593.48
Business	1,266,971.48	1,463,272.41	1,141,208.61
Other purposes	1,013,200.27	881,921.92	643,654.97
Overnight trip expenditure by purpose5
All purposes	1,193,409,637	1,093,494,923	1,211,741,183
Holiday	653,244,577.9	578,239,711.2	605,421,039.5
Visiting friends or relatives	313,680,615.2	308,953,064.4	372,025,306.9
Business	150,884,295.2	150,025,031.9	184,514,882.8
Other purposes	75,600,148.74	56,277,115.52	49,779,953.49
Overnight trips by council area12
Northern Ireland	5,096,136.06	4,692,191.28	5,463,728.44
Antrim and Newtownabbey	199,664.12	115,393.5	125,012.9
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon	153,554.39	164,724.33	188,921.42
Belfast	1,540,212.22	1,452,848.79	1,701,350.94
Causeway Coast and Glens	1,152,396.31	1,073,736.34	1,276,535.15
Derry City and Strabane	399,477.59	294,632.81	266,470.76
Fermanagh and Omagh	387,376.48	313,716.79	522,702.46
Lisburn and Castlereagh	99,991.46	122,318.29	185,798.93
Mid and East Antrim	278,869.07	220,066.83	275,157.7
Mid Ulster	160,902.81	175,762.48	185,433.25
Newry, Mourne and Down	427,157.26	443,775.66	482,980.57
Ards and North Down	296,534.34	315,215.46	253,364.38
Overnight trip expenditure by council area12
Northern Ireland	1,193,409,637	1,093,494,923	1,211,812,613
Antrim and Newtownabbey	45,449,405.75	24,585,659.48	26,453,477.06
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon	27,322,400.98	23,303,539.72	33,817,780.83
Belfast	492,840,878.4	469,643,365	536,541,695.7
Causeway Coast and Glens	183,714,043.3	210,378,255.9	203,893,024.9
Derry City and Strabane	93,579,475.37	82,442,495.98	63,758,214.85
Fermanagh and Omagh	96,613,602.86	65,523,400.94	82,669,831.69
Lisburn and Castlereagh	17,913,854.88	22,805,175.07	40,442,426.44
Mid and East Antrim	84,846,791.3	52,517,876.82	62,920,876.64
Mid Ulster	33,253,198.13	20,248,926.19	30,232,776.57
Newry, Mourne and Down	60,817,412.09	73,277,005.48	79,139,615.26
Ards and North Down	57,058,573.96	48,769,222.42	51,942,893.38
Room occupancy rate5
Hotels	65	67.94	64	65.9	62.09	41.95	67	70	72.82	70.22	66.69	64.5	63.54
All small service	41	40.14	38	36.55	33.97	15.62	33.18	37.47	36.68	34.07	27.42	28.18	30.15
Guesthouses	29	41.28	44	35.46	35.4	21.3	34.06	41.82	40.42	31.41	23.23	34.19	31.28
B&Bs	32	28.59	26	21.85	24.4	9.95	26.37	32.92	33.11	32.21	24.23	22.91	28.65
Guest accommodation	47	46.76	45	52.94	46.86	23.18	46.69	45.57	44.55	48.47	46.49
Bed occupancy rate5
Hotels	54	54.29	53	50.95	55.03	33.51	54	53	55.74	54.02	50.48	45.61	45.76
All small service	36	35.2	33	27.99	29.79	13.34	25.75	28.32	27.81	25.98	20.49	21.23	21.59
Guesthouses	31	35.47	34	29.52	32.62	13.51	24.38	28.87	28.57	24.26	17.63	24.36	24.04
B&Bs	29	26.66	24	19.88	19.98	8.35	22.09	26.38	25.95	26.25	19.01	18.28	19.85
Guest accommodation	39	39.92	38	38.4	38.56	22.25	35.95	33.19	32.64	28.25	31.84
Accommodation establishments5
Hotels	140	134	130	134	145	143	145	141	138	137	135	134	138
All small service	984	900	864	782	927	924	955	832	762	739	686	688	709
Guesthouses	57	55	57	61	71	71	78	80	85	85	87	92	106
B&Bs	371	360	380	380	589	618	650	604	578	581	549	560	581
Guest accommodation	556	485	427	341	267	235	227	148	99	73	50	36	22
Accommodation rooms5
Hotels	9,697	9,224	8,865	9,187	9,627	9,639	9,592	9,221	8,121	7,916	7,822	7,809	7,893
All small service	4,387	3,821	3,741	3,527	3,955	3,866	3,975	3,619	3,206	3,158	2,999	2,978	3,045
Guesthouses	561	550	544	618	661	650	698	700	722	728	717	721	837
B&Bs	1,280	1,216	1,263	1,337	1,912	1,977	2,063	1,999	1,894	1,909	1,872	1,893	1,925
Guest accommodation	2,546	2,055	1,934	1,572	1,382	1,239	1,214	920	590	521	410	364	283
VAT and/or PAYE registered tourism businesses12
Northern Ireland	5,960	5,865	5,845	5,825	5,570	5,520	5,405	5,225	5,065	4,890	4,705
Antrim and Newtownabbey	335	320	325	330	335	325	320	305	295	280	275
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon	545	535	540	555	495	495	500	475	480	460	435
Belfast	1,390	1,355	1,340	1,375	1,325	1,315	1,250	1,205	1,150	1,085	1,030
Causeway Coast and Glens	540	520	490	510	470	470	465	445	425	425	425
Derry City and Strabane	490	465	475	465	440	435	410	410	395	385	370
Fermanagh and Omagh	400	390	385	370	360	360	370	355	355	350	340
Lisburn and Castlereagh	330	330	360	345	350	345	310	295	295	285	275
Mid and East Antrim	385	375	375	400	365	365	360	360	350	335	320
Mid Ulster	440	445	440	420	405	400	405	390	375	370	345
Newry, Mourne and Down	640	650	640	600	585	580	570	560	545	520	505
Ards and North Down	470	480	475	460	440	430	445	420	400	395	395