By Laura O’Neill

New figures from Tourism Northern Ireland show Northern Ireland has attracted unprecedented numbers of inbound tourists in 2023.

Almost half of overnight stays originated from Northern Irish visitors on staycations while 1.3m overnight trips were taken by visitors from the Republic in 2023; up by nearly half compared to 2022. These statistics highlight the importance of domestic tourism for the local economy.

The amount visitors spent on those trips has also increased significantly compared with 2022. The Derry City and Strabane area has benefited from almost £64 million of this expenditure.

The trend for staycations took hold during the Covid pandemic when restrictions were placed on travelling abroad. These figures suggest it is likely to continue. Derry attracts thousands of tourists every year.

Brendan McCormick from Visit Derry said it was getting busier every year. However contrary to statistics, he believes visitors were coming from further afield.

“We have a mix of both local and international visitors, but we have seen a huge increase in international tourists from the likes of America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and China. People who wouldn’t have necessarily come in the past are coming here now and its great to see the positive change.

“We see mainly groups come through the doors here at the tourist office, but families will start to increase soon they usually come for the Halloween celebrations.

”Tourists who come into us ask about the city’s nightlife and restaurants. Of course, the rich history means many people enjoy the walking tours of the historic walls. Visitors are also very interested in cross border travel and excursions to Donegal. I also think Derry girls the hit TV show has been a huge contributor to the increased visitors,” Mr McCormick said.

Sharon Glackin, who has worked in visitor services for Derry’s Tower Museum and Guildhall for several years, saw an entirely different pattern.

“The biggest change I have seen is there is a lot of staycations I have also noticed a lot of our visitors are from Northern Ireland especially Belfast. Although there are also a lot of people coming from Europe. I assume that is because of all the conflict going on around the world and they don’t want to really travel that far, plus its cheaper to come here,” she said

She believed that the time of year played a part in where the tourists originated from.

“You are always going to get your international travellers, but they travel at different times of the year. Americans and Canadians tend to visit from March right through to September then Australians travel from September through the winter months.”

Sharon believes that from being out and about and looking around the city, the difference was apparent.

“Overall, there definitely has been a noticeable increase in tourists from previous years. You only need to look at the walking tours there used to be only one or two tours now there are lots going on around the city at the same time.”

Tourism features high on the government’s agenda, The Department of the Economy has set its sights on the country becoming a world-class tourism destination through an ambitious ten year strategy. The plan aims to increase the value of tourism to the economy by 50-75% over 2019 levels by 2032.