Northern Ireland Annual Tourism Statistics 2019

Date published: 22 October 2020

The latest annual tourism statistics for Northern Ireland have been published today

Due to the complexity of tourism, no single statistic can provide a definitive measure on how the tourism industry is performing. This report tries to give an overall picture of Northern Ireland tourism in 2019 (pre coronavirus). The report points towards continued steady growth in overall tourism from 2013.

The key points are:

• In 2019 there were an estimated 5.3 million overnight trips in Northern Ireland. This includes trips by external visitors to Northern Ireland and domestic trips taken by local residents. Estimated expenditure associated with all overnight trips was £1.0 billion;
• External visitors were estimated to take 3.0 million overnight trips to Northern Ireland in 2019. Expenditure associated with these trips was £731m;
• An estimated 2.4 million nights were sold in hotel rooms in Northern Ireland during 2019. Hotel room occupancy was estimated to be 67% in 2019;
• A total of 167 cruise ships docked at Northern Ireland ports in 2019. This was a 30% increase from 128 in 2018 and a marked increase from 62 cruise ships in 2013; and
• When looked at together, tourism statistics point towards an upward trend in overall tourism activity in Northern Ireland between 2013 and 2019. While there is no statistically significant changes from the previous year, the headline statistics of trips and spend have significantly increased since 2017.
• Tourism statistics publications and additional charts and tables for 2019 can be found on the Annual Tourism Statistics Publications page.