Tourism on course to be £1 billion industry
This summer’s 148th Open at Portrush is expected to be a significant contributor to Northern Ireland reaching its target to be a £1 billion industry a year earlier than expected.
The recent release of tourism performance figures for 2018 show that Northern Ireland is well on course to meet the £1 billion target in 2019 rather than the originally envisaged 2020.
The most significant figure to emerge from last years’ statistics is that the number of tourists visiting Northern Ireland has eclipsed the number of domestic tourists. Of the five million visitors, with a combined stay of 16 million nights, over half (2.8 million) were from outside of Northern Ireland and these contributed some £669 million to the economy.
The number of out of state visitors is expected to further increase significantly this year as Portrush hosts the 148th Open in July, more than 70 years since it was last staged in Northern Ireland and attracting visitors from around the globe.
Tourism performance in Northern Ireland has been on a positive trend in recent years and the £968 million spend by five million visitors in 2018 is a 5 per cent increase on the previous year.
Visitors from the Republic of Ireland were the main driver of tourism’s growth in Northern Ireland, taking an unprecedented 591,000 trips, 23 per cent higher than the previous year. As well as feet on the ground, Republic of Ireland visitors also increased their spend by some 20 per cent to over £108 million.
Republic of Ireland visitors coming to Northern Ireland for holiday increased significantly by 7 per cent. Similarly, more people from GB and overseas are seeing Northern Ireland as an attractive holiday destination, with a 12 per cent increase from these markets. However, attracting holidaying visitors is not the only significant factor in tourism performance and business trips from all markets rose by 21 per cent as Northern Ireland continues to market itself as place to invest and do business.
The contribution of other markets somewhat masked a flat domestic performance. Overall bednights were down by 3 per cent despite a 44 per cent increase from the Republic of Ireland market. Holiday trips also declined slightly, attributed to fewer Northern Ireland residents choosing to holiday at home. The number of trips taken domestically remained relatively similar to that in 2017, however, those that did stay spent 11 per cent more than the previous year.
Northern Ireland’s headline attractions continued to be the biggest draw for tourists, with visitors to the Giant’s Causeway and Titanic Belfast increasing by 5 per cent on 2017. However, other attractions such as the various Game of Thrones associated features have been recognised for their ability to attract tourists to Northern Ireland for longer stays.
Northern Ireland continues to be more attractive to cruise ship operators, with 128 docking in Northern Ireland ports in 2018, a 16 ship increase on the previous year. At the same time a record year for room and bed sales for Northern Ireland’s hotel industry look set to continue with early 2019 figures highlighting a continuing trend of growth.
