NITA has welcomed the NISRA Annual Tourism Statistics for 2025 which show a recovery in tourism spending in Northern Ireland last year was driven by holidaymakers from the Republic of Ireland.
The main headlines from the research are:
- There were an estimated 5.1m overnight trips with associated spending of £1.2bn, up by 9% on 2024.
- Overnight trips from the Republic were up by 15% from 1.1m to 1.3m. Spending by those visitors was up by 31% from £243m to £317m.
- The number of nights stayed in Northern Ireland was broadly unchanged from 2024, recorded at 15 million in 2025 (an increase of 1%).
- External visits to NI from outside of the UK or ROI showed a 3% decrease in 2025 from the previous year (568,000 external visitors in 2024 to 553,000 in 2025).
Brona Moffett, Interim CEO of NITA welcomed this performance, saying “ The Northern Ireland Tourism Industry continues to perform positively in challenging times. The industry collaboration and vibrancy is reflected in these figures, as we all strive to the ambitions of the 10 Year Vision and Action Plan. We congratulate all the agencies and the industry in this achievement of 9% growth versus 2024.”
You can read the NISRA report in full here: www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/ni-annual-tourism-statistics-2025
