Tourism

Tourism Vision and Action Plan – 10 Year Plan

Published in January 2025, the Tourism Vision & Action Plan outlines 17 key actions to boost overnight visitor expenditure to over £2 billion by 2035. These actions include a tailored Skills Action Plan, support through the City and Growth Deals Programme, development of Aviation Policy, the promotion of Peace Tourism, and measures to help tourism businesses reduce their carbon footprint.

Tourism Partnership Board

The Tourism Partnership Board (TPB), which was formed in September 2024 and brings together representatives from tourism, hospitality, Executive Departments, and local government. The TPB now meets biannually to review progress, advise on industry measures, and update the Action Plan in response to emerging issues.

Tourism Partnership Board

Tourism Legislation

Northern Ireland is unique within the UK as there is a statutory requirement to inspect all accommodation properties offering temporary visitor/tourist accommodation to ensure they are compliant with the minimum standards of quality, cleanliness and safety as set out in legislation. Tourism NI is responsible for enforcing these regulations through its statutory certification scheme.

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

A public consultation was launched (closed on 6^th January 2026) and both Tourism NI and DfE officials are currently reviewing the responses in order to put forward proposals to the Northern Ireland Assembly for consideration and ratification to ensure that Northern Ireland can offer a more diverse range of certified accommodation.

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

Tourism NI

Tourism NI has responsibility for the development of tourism product and experience and is also responsible for the marketing the region as a tourist destination to visitors across Ireland.

Tourism Ireland

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

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

Tourism Statistics

The NI Annual Tourism Statistics 2025 were published by NISRA on Thursday 21 May 2026. The figures show a sector that is growing steadily and demonstrating how vital it is to our economy. The 9% increases recorded in both overall visitor numbers and visitor expenditure on 2024 levels is good news and illustrates the resilience of our local tourism sector in the face of challenging conditions.

In 2025, there were an estimated 5.1 million overnight trips in NI, with associated expenditure of £1.2 billion. Those who made overnight trips stayed an estimated 15.0 million nights in 2025.

The All-Ireland economy is driving tourism growth with the latest NISRA figures showing trips by visitors from the south to the north increased by 15% in 2025. There were 1.3 million trips in 2025, compared to 1.1 million in 2024. The money spent by southern visitors increased from £243 million in 2024 to £317 million last year – an increase of 31%.

Minutes and details of user consultations and tourism consultations can be found below.

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