Annual Tourism Statistics for 2025 published
Date published:
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) today published the Annual Tourism Statistics for Northern Ireland (NI) for the 2025 reference year.
This release provides a variety of measures including estimates on the number of overnight trips in NI, the number of nights these overnight trips equate to and the associated expenditure including staying in local accommodation such as in hotels and other small service establishments.
The key points of the release are:
- In 2025, there were an estimated 5.1 million overnight trips in Northern Ireland, with associated expenditure of £1.2 billion. Those who made overnight trips stayed an estimated 15.0 million nights in NI in 2025.
- Compared with the previous year, the 2025 annual tourism figures indicate a statistically significant change in the overall number of overnight trips to Northern Ireland (up 9%), with a corresponding increase in visitor spending (also up 9% increase).
- The number of nights visitors stayed in NI was broadly similar to the level observed in 2024 at 15 million (an increase of 1% from 14.9 million in 2024). Stable nights, alongside rising trips and expenditure, indicate higher average spend per night, consistent with more frequent but shorter‑duration visits.
- Visitor Profile: External visitors (all non-resident NI visitors) accounted for 66% of the total number of overnight trips with the remaining 34% taken by NI residents (the domestic tourism market). This mirrors the proportion reported in 2024.
The 5.1 million overnight trips in 2025 were made by an estimated:
- 1.8 million NI residents (34%), (domestic market) and the remaining visiting from the external market (non-NI resident) market
- 1.5 million visits from Great Britain (29%)
- 1.3 million from Republic of Ireland (26%)
- 0.6 million from ‘Outside United Kingdom (UK) and Republic of Ireland (ROI)’ (11%).
Within the tourism market, all areas (except for those travelling from outside UK and ROI) showed growth from 2024. ROI market (+15%), Great Britain market (+4%), NI market (+12%); and Outside UK and ROI (-3%).
The NI domestic tourism market also has shown promising growth in 2025, after a sharp decline of 27% in 2024. However, despite an encouraging recovery in 2025 i.e. 12% increase in overnight trips to 1.8 million), NI overnight trips have not yet returned to the 2.1 million NI resident overnight trips recorded in 2023.
Reason for visiting NI: Holiday remains the primary reason for visiting Northern Ireland accounting for 53% of all overnight stays. Those reporting a visit to NI for a ‘holiday’ increased by 13% between 2024 and 2025 (an increase from 2.4 million to 2.7 million). This increase was reported across all markets except for those travelling from ‘Outside the UK or ROI’. (ROI market +39%; NI +15%; GB +7%; Outside UK and ROI -13%).
Notes to editors:
- The NI Annual Tourism Statistics 2025 are available on NISRA publications
- To build accurate and comprehensive tourism estimates, NISRA draws on its own surveys (Northern Ireland Passenger Survey and Continuous Household Survey) and integrates them with external data sources from Republic of Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO). This approach ensures that all travel activity, including cross-border movements, is properly captured and reflected in official statistics.
- NISRA follows established statistical practices to produce high-quality and trustworthy tourism data: Regular and Representative Surveys – Northern Ireland Passenger Survey and the Continuous Household Survey are conducted continuously, ensuring that tourism data reflects current conditions. Sample designs are constructed to be representative of the population or visitor base, reducing bias and improving reliability.
- Calibration with Transport Data - Survey findings are benchmarked against actual passenger volumes reported by transport providers. This cross-checking helps correct for under- or over-estimation and aligns survey results with real-world traffic.
- Integration of Multiple Data Sources - To fully account for complex travel patterns, NISRA integrates its own findings with external datasets, particularly CSO statistics, which helps fill gaps related to land travel between jurisdictions and indirect travel routes. This collaboration between ROI’s CSO and NISRA Tourism official statistics consider cross-border visitor dynamics to produce meaningful regional tourism data.
- Use of Precision Estimates and Statistical Testing - The survey sample design of both NISRA data sources allows NISRA to produce statistical estimates with known levels of precision. This means NISRA can quantify the level of uncertainty around key metrics (e.g. visitor trips or spend). More importantly, it allows for statistical comparisons over time so that users can assess whether observed changes are likely to be real shifts in tourism behaviour, or just due random variation.
- Feedback is welcomed and should be addressed to Responsible statistician: Alana Green, Economic & Labour Market Statistics Branch (ELMS) or Telephone: 028 9025 5606.
- The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.
For media enquiries contact the Department for the Economy Press Office.
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