Northern Ireland annual tourism statistics 2017

Date published: 07 June 2018

The latest annual Northern Ireland tourism statistics for 2017 were published on 07 June 2018.

The key points are:

• In 2017 there were an estimated 4.9 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 these trips was £926m.  These are the highest estimates on record;
• Within this, overnight trips to Northern Ireland by external visitors was estimated to be 2.7 million. Expenditure associated with these trips was £657m;
• An estimated 2.1 million hotel room nights were sold in Northern Ireland. Hotel room occupancy was estimated to be 73% in 2017;
• A total of 112 cruise ships docked at Northern Ireland ports in 2017.  This was an increase compared to 93 cruise ships in 2016 and a marked increase from 33 cruise ships in 2011;
• When all sources are considered together, the statistics point towards an upward trend in overall tourism activity in Northern Ireland between 2011 and 2017.  The three headline measures above (trips, nights and spend) show no statistically significant change between 2016 and 2017.  However, there have been statistically significant increases over the longer term.
• Full report available here