A bright future for Northern Ireland tourism
Following the unprecedented challenges of recent years, the tourism sector in Northern Ireland has bounced back, stronger and more determined than ever – and the future is looking bright, writes John McGrillen, CEO at Tourism NI.
There’s no doubt it’s been a turbulent few years for the tourism industry, both globally and here at home.
Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis have all had a major impact. In response, we have seen the passionate people and businesses, who are the backbone of the tourism sector, display their flexibility, creativity, and innovation.
Whilst it has been a difficult period, it is clear that the hard work of everyone in the tourism industry has delivered a strong recovery, one that didn’t seem likely even 18 months beforehand.
The first official tourism statistics since the end of the pandemic showed that overnight stays in Northern Ireland generated a record spend of £1.2 billion in 2023. This spend was generated from 5.4 million overnight trips, 60% of which were taken by people from outside of Northern Ireland. Almost 70% of trips taken in 2023 were outside of Belfast.
This strong recovery has been built on unprecedented numbers of visitors from the Republic of Ireland. It is evident that the pandemic played a part in encouraging people to travel close to home.Yet, it is also clear that sustained marketing activity over several years combined with investment in visitor experiences has generated new and additional demand to visit.
Tourism NI has had much to celebrate in recent months after winning three of the categories at the Irish Advertising Industry’s 2024 Effie Awards for its efforts in growing visitor numbers in the Republic of Ireland, making Tourism NI’s promotional campaigns the biggest winner at the 2024 ceremony.
What has been heartening too has been the feedback from visitors – the vast majority of whom reported that their expectations were met or exceeded.
Whilst we do not have the official data yet for 2024, we expect that it is likely to show a further consolidation of the sector’s recovery, albeit with parts of the industry experiencing some challenges.
Hotel room sales in the first nine months of the year were 2% higher than in the 2023, with occupancy levels on par with the year before. However, some outdoor experience providers reported a slight drop in performance compared to 2023.
Undoubtedly, there were many bright spots and positive developments. Amongst the highlights was the Amgen Irish Open which attracted more than 70,000 fans to a fantastic week of golf at Royal County Down in Newcastle.
The weather largely held fair and we had a nail-biting climax to the tournament on the final hole. Television coverage from the event was broadcast into close to 400 million homes around the world, highlighting Northern Ireland’s ability to seamlessly deliver world class events, and showcasing all that we have to offer visitors.
We also had our inaugural Tourism and Hospitality Week in Autumn 2024. Bringing together a range of partners, a series of events were delivered to shine a spotlight on the importance of the sector to the local economy.
These events included the launch of the latest wave of Tourism NI’s highly successful ‘Make it Here’ campaign which is helping to boost recruitment and retention, as well as change perceptions of what it is like to work in our industry.
New initiatives such as ‘Get Into Tourism’ provided a tailored route for individuals to develop skills and explore job opportunities.
Supporting the industry to reduce its carbon impact and become more sustainable continued to grow in importance during 2024. A new Destination Sustainability Programme equipped a group of experience providers with the skills and knowledge to take action.
A further suite of sustainability support will be rolled out this year too, along with a bespoke calculator for tourism and hospitality businesses to measure their carbon footprint and track their progress towards net zero.
Tourism NI worked closely with Innovate NI to deliver a new Innovate Tourism scheme, enabling businesses to get recognition for their creativity and adaptability, and to encourage further investment in new ways of doing things.
Further phases of the scheme will allow more businesses to get involved and support existing participants to move up the recognition framework.
And there is still so much more to come in the year ahead.
A key highlight will be The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club in July. When the tournament was last staged at the venue in 2019, it delivered a combined economic and media benefit of more than £100 million to the region.
With The Open in 2025 already a record sell-out, Tourism NI will be working closely with industry partners and stakeholders to maximise the impacts for Northern Ireland.
The year ahead will also provide the starting point for the delivery of a new 10-year plan for tourism, which complements Minister Murphy’s four key economic priorities of good jobs, regional balance, productivity and decarbonisation. Tourism NI’s activities have already been aligned to these priorities.
New initiatives such as an Employer Excellence Programme to support the good jobs objective will be launched during the year ahead.
The 10-year plan sets out ambitions to further grow tourism, whilst creating opportunities to spread sustainable economic, social and environmental benefits around the region.
Of course, there are a myriad of challenges to overcome in achieving these ambitions, as well as intensifying competition from other visitor destinations.
Nevertheless, with the right mix of investment in product and marketing, allied to continued collaboration across the industry, we are confident that tourism can continue to be a Northern Ireland success story in the years ahead.
Website: www.tourismni.com
X: @nitouristboard
LinkedIn: Tourism Northern Ireland