Tourism NI Welcomes Positive Domestic Holiday Figures

The figures show a 10.5% increase in holiday nights in 2022 and a 2.2% increase in spend by domestic holiday visitors in the same year.

These figures demonstrate growth against a record year in 2019 and show that, while fewer trips were taken, people stayed for longer and spent more on domestic holidays despite the global health challenges that still affected tourism in 2022.

The 2022 statistics are the first full year tourism performance figures released by NISRA since 2019 due to gaps in data gathering during the Covid pandemic.

Commenting on the release of the figures, Tourism NI Chief Executive John McGrillen said;
“I welcome the news today that our local campaigns across 2022 helped to boost the holiday market and bring much needed domestic visitors to hotels, visitor attractions, self-catering properties, restaurants and other tourism and hospitality businesses. Discretionary spend on domestic holidays, and the length of trips, is a key indicator of recovery.”

“Given the record breaking performance from Republic of Ireland visitors in 2022, this is even more proof that our close-to-home markets matter and we need to continue to invest in products and campaigns that will appeal to island of Ireland and overseas visitors alike.”

“The domestic market, just like our international markets, is layered and requires ongoing support to continue to appeal to a wide variety of customers, from families, businesses and events to activity seekers, health and wellbeing visitors and, increasingly, a growth in those looking for sustainable short breaks”.

Mr McGrillen also commented on some good news for business tourism within the figures;
“Domestic business tourism also held up well in 2022, with a 17% increase in trips and a 32% increase in nights, despite inflationary and cost of doing business pressures affecting spend by Northern Ireland businesses on conferences, meetings, business events and exhibitions”.