tourism performance during 2008

tourism facts 2008 northern ireland tourism performance during 2008 nitb.com/research

summary Staying visitors spent over 1 million per day in Northern Ireland in 2008 resulting in revenue of 396m. When we add to this figure the 144m from domestic spending, the Northern Ireland tourist industry earned 540m in 2008. The Republic of Ireland was the only main market to record growth (+14%; +45,000) in 2008. Great Britain declined by 6% (-83,000) while Europe and North America each showed declines of 2% (-5,000 and -3,000 respectively). Visitors from the Elsewhere market increased by 15,000 (+21%). The 3% growth recorded for holiday/leisure/recreation trips in 2008 was due to a huge growth in holiday/leisure/recreation trips by Republic of Ireland residents (+26%; +32,000). Visitor tourism (Million) % change with 2007 Total Trips 2.076-1.5 Total Nights 10.469 - Total Spend 396 +5 (+2 in real terms) visitor tourism revenue 1998-2008 * Million 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 * A change in methodology occurred in 2005 - NITB adopted figures produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for Republic of Ireland residents visiting Northern Ireland. 2000-2004 figures have been revised for comparison purposes. Other methodological changes occurred in 2003 and consequently 2003-2008 data are not directly comparable with data pre 2003.

northern ireland s key markets 2008 Trips (000s) % change with 2007 Great Britain 1,202-6 Republic of Ireland 367 +14 Europe 261-2 North America 160-2 Australia/New Zealand 63 +11 Other Overseas 23 +53 total domestic trips & domestic holiday trips in northern ireland 2008 2007 % Change Total Trips 1,024,000 1,154,000-11% Total Nights 2,207,000 2,828,000-22% Total Spend 144m 159m -9% Holiday Trips 815,000 887,000-8% Holiday Nights 1,909,000 2,363,000-19% Holiday Spend 127m 134m -5% what were the total staying visitor figures and revenue? Trips (000s) Nights (000s) Revenue m 2003 1,896 8,947 284 2004 1,985 8,504 313 2005 1,972 9,561 357 2006 1,979 9,618 371 2007 2,107 10,486 376 2008 2,076 10,469 396 what was the main purpose of their visit? 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total Trips (000s) 1,896 1,985 1,972 1,979 2,107 2,076 Visiting friends & relatives (VFR) Holiday (holiday/leisure/recreation) Business Other 851 861 964 919 942 943 (45%) (43%) (49%) (46%) (45%) (45%) 328 375 345 385 493 508 (17%) (19%) (18%) (20%) (23%) (25%) 577 590 541 570 548 486 (30%) (30%) (27%) (29%) (26%) (23%) 141 158 122 105 123 139 (7%) (8%) (6%) (5%) (6%) (7%) A change in methodology occurred in 2005 - NITB adopted figures produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for Republic of Ireland residents visiting Northern Ireland. 2003 and 2004 figures have been revised for comparison purposes.

where did the staying visitors come from? England Scotland Wales Great Britain Republic of Ireland North America Europe Australia / New Zealand Other Overseas Total Staying Visitors 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Trips (000) 956 986 911 878 897 856 Nights (000) 4,120 4,178 3,991 3,852 3,784 3,616 Spend ( m) 151 162 173 161 154 152 Trips (000) 390 392 374 368 350 315 Nights (000) 1,720 1,582 1,653 1,591 1,492 1,420 Spend ( m) 59 64 72 72 57 59 Trips (000) 33 30 24 36 38 31 Nights (000) 191 117 122 143 146 142 Spend ( m) 6 5 5 8 8 6 Trips (000) 1,379 1,408 1,308 1,281 1,285 1,202 Nights (000) 6,031 5,876 5,766 5,585 5,422 5,178 Spend ( m) 216 231 250 241 219 217 Trips (000) 223 252 271 277 322 367 Nights ( 000) 799 716 775 834 840 927 Spend ( m) 22 24 30 32 43 50 Trips (000) 105 122 145 145 163 160 Nights (000) 593 636 857 933 950 1,051 Spend ( m) 14 24 26 30 37 42 Trips (000) 129 133 176 209 266 261 Nights (000) 888 820 1,626 1,670 2,703 2,517 Spend ( m) 22 25 40 54 63 68 Trips (000) 39 42 47 42 57 63 Nights (000) 290 214 323 243 442 508 Spend ( m) 5 6 6 5 9 13 Trips (000) 21 27 24 25 15 23 Nights (000) 346 242 214 353 129 289 Spend ( m) 5 3 4 8 6 6 Trips (000) 1,896 1,985 1,972 1,979 2,107 2,076 Nights (000) 8,947 8,504 9,561 9,618 10,486 10,469 Spend ( m) 284 313 357 371 376 396 what percentage of the market did each region take? 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total Trips (000s) 1,896 1,985 1,972 1,979 2,107 2,076 England 50 50 46 44 42 41 Scotland 21 20 19 19 17 15 Wales 2 1 1 2 2 2 (Great Britain) (73) (71) (66) (65) (61) (58) Republic of Ireland 12 13 14 14 15 18 North America 5 6 7 7 8 8 Europe 7 7 9 11 13 13 Australia/New Zealand 2 2 2 2 3 3 Other Overseas 1 1 1 1 1 1 A change in methodology occurred in 2005 - NITB adopted figures produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) for Republic of Ireland residents visiting Northern Ireland. 2003 and 2004 figures have been revised for comparison purposes.

how important was purpose of visit in terms of nights and spend (%)? Trips 2,076,000 Nights 10,469,000 Revenue 396m Visiting friends & relatives 45 47 36 Holiday/leisure/recreation 25 16 22 Business 23 28 34 Other 7 9 8 what was the main purpose of visit for the main market areas (%)? VFR Holiday/leisure/ /recreation Business Other England 52 10 33 5 Scotland 56 13 23 8 Wales 40 11 40 9 Republic of Ireland 39 42 10 9 North America 32 51 9 8 Europe 34 36 23 7 Australia/New 28 67 5 - Zealand Elsewhere 48 26 22 4 how did visitors arrive/depart (%)? By Air By Sea Via Republic of Ireland Great Britain 61 27 11 Europe 43 3 54 North America 31 5 64 Australia/New Zealand 21 11 68 Elsewhere 48 16 36 Total 54 21 25 what type of accommodation did they stay in (%)? ** Trips 2,076,000 Nights 10,469,000 Revenue 396m Hotel 28 10 31 Guesthouse/Bed and breakfast 8 4 8 Caravan/Camping 1 1 1 Rented accommodation 3 20 12 Staying with friends/relatives 57 55 41 Other (e.g. youth hostels) 3 10 7 Visiting friends/relatives. Excludes Republic of Ireland residents. * * Table should be treated with caution due to limitations with information sources.

what time of year did they visit (%)? ** VFR Holiday /leisure/ recreation Business Other Total Total Trips (000s) 943 508 486 139 2,076 January-March 23 14 25 21 22 April-June 24 32 27 28 26 July-September 32 45 27 35 32 October-December 21 9 21 17 20 how did visitors spend their money in northern ireland (%)? ** VFR Holiday /leisure/ recreation Business Other Total Total Revenue ( m) 142 86 136 32 396 Bed & Board 6 36 47 34 28 Food & Drink 41 30 25 31 33 Other Entertainment 6 6 4 7 5 Internal travel 10 11 12 8 11 Shopping 33 14 10 17 20 (presents) (8) (6) (5) (8) (7) Incidental expenditure 5 3 2 3 3 ** Table should be treated with caution due to limitations with information sources. Visiting friends/relatives.

accommodation provision / demand The occupancy rate represents the number of rooms or bedspaces taken in a given period as a percentage of the total rooms or bedspaces on offer. Double or twin-bedded rooms count as having two bedspaces. what sort of accommodation was available for tourists? Hotels Guesthouse & Bed & Breakfast Establishments Self-catering Youth Hostels No. Bedrooms No. Bedrooms No. Bedrooms No. Bedrooms 1999 133 4,893 1,054 7,146 483 2,524 48 663 2000 130 5,013 1,035 7,311 532 2,714 50 532 2001 133 5,296 970 7,131 563 2,978 48 537 2002 132 5,696 914 5,791 592 3,039 51 616 2003 129 5,837 857 6,078 613 2,853 56 747 2004 131 5,944 813 5,741 691 3,249 55 705 2005 128 5,957 790 6,182 745 3,301 53 697 2006 129 6,078 766 6,181 782 3,344 47 680 2007 129 6,413 742 6,819 884 3,795 42 624 2008 131 6,986 731 6,371 1,034 4,510 41 1,084 hotels how busy were northern ireland's hotels (%)? Room occupancy Bedspace occupancy Non-Northern Ireland Guests 2003 57 37 61 2004 61 41 61 2005 62 42 62 2006 64 43 63 2007 67 45 61 2008 63 43 65 what were the monthly occupancy rates of hotels in 2008 (%)? Room occupancy Bedspace occupancy Non-Northern Ireland Guests January 46 29 61 February 59 38 60 March 60 43 64 April 67 42 66 May 70 48 66 June 73 48 68 July 67 47 62 August 76 59 64 September 71 49 69 October 64 43 66 November 55 36 66 December 46 32 60 Table includes university and college stock which offer accommodation.

how did the different hotel classifications perform in 2008 (%)? Classification Room occupancy Bedspace occupancy Non-Northern Ireland Guests Five/four star 67 48 61 Three star 64 42 69 Two star 52 36 60 One star 47 37 Na where did hotel guests come from (%)? Area of residence 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Northern Ireland 39 38 37 39 35 Republic of Ireland 12 12 11 11 12 Great Britain 39 39 40 39 41 Europe 4 4 4 5 4 North America 4 5 4 4 3 Other 2 3 3 3 4 guesthouses / b&bs how busy were northern ireland's guesthouses and bed & breakfast establishments (%)? Room occupancy Bedspace occupancy Non-Northern Ireland Guests 2003 29 22 72 2004 31 24 72 2005 31 24 71 2006 31 24 73 2007 37 28 74 2008 33 25 76 what were the monthly occupancy rates in guesthouse and bed and breakfast establishments in 2008 (%)? Room occupancy Bedspace occupancy Non-Northern Ireland Guests January 20 13 74 February 27 18 66 March 30 22 69 April 29 21 76 May 42 33 77 June 41 32 81 July 46 39 76 August 51 43 78 September 40 30 78 October 26 18 77 November 19 13 72 December 16 10 74

how did guesthouses and bed and breakfast establishments in different regions perform in 2008 (%)? Region Room occupancy Bedspace occupancy Non-Northern Ireland Guests Belfast North West 33 23 87 North East 34 27 78 South West 32 25 59 South East 29 20 75 where did guesthouse and bed and breakfast establishments guests come from (%)? Area of residence 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Northern Ireland 28 29 27 26 24 Republic of Ireland 11 11 9 9 11 Great Britain 34 32 32 34 34 Europe 11 12 15 14 14 North America 10 10 11 11 10 Other 6 7 6 6 7 Sample size too small for accurate results.

visitor attractions how many people visited northern ireland s main tourist attractions? Rank Attraction Visitor numbers % change on 2007 1 Giant s Causeway Visitor Centre 751,693 +5 2 Oxford Island National Nature Reserve F 341,025 +57 3 W5 282,756 +14 4 Island Arts Centre F 276,000-1 5 Belfast Zoological Gardens 275,494-7 6 Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge 241,291 +8 7 Historic Walls of Derry F 215,015 +1 8 Ulster Folk & Transport Museum 190,580 +13 9 Portstewart Strand F 170,333-6 10 Ulster American Folk Park 152,717-3 how many people visited forest / country parks and gardens? Rank Attraction Visitor numbers % change on 2007 1 Crawfordsburn Country Park, Belfast F 710,000-7 2 Botanic Gardens, Belfast F 660,000 0 3 Lagan Valley Regional Park F 500,000 n/a 4 Roe Valley Country Park, Limavady F 300,000 0 5 Colin Glen Forest Park F 237,294 n/a 6 Scrabo Country Park, Newtownards F 230,000-2 7 Delamont Country Park, Killyleagh 189,937-16 8 Carnfunnock Country Park 187,408-9 9 Castle Archdale Country Park F 175,000 +9 10 Tollymore Forest Park 146,553-6 F Denotes no admission or parking charge.

sources All of the information contained within this fact card is based on data from the following sources: Northern Ireland Tourist Board s Passenger Survey Northern Ireland Tourist Board s Visitor Attraction Survey United Kingdom Occupancy Survey Fáilte Ireland s Survey of Overseas Travellers CSO s Country of Residence Survey CSO s Household Travel Survey United Kingdom Tourism Survey definitions a visitor Any person visiting - for any reason other than following an occupation remunerated from within the country - any country other than that in which he/she has his/her usual place of residence. a tourist The internationally accepted definition is: Any visitor staying at least twenty-four hours in the country visited. Tourists, as defined, may then be sub-divided into three groups: 1. Those engaged in leisure pursuits - the holidaymakers. 2. Business people. 3. Those visiting friends and relatives (VFR traffic). To these three categories is added a fourth - the home tourist - the Northern Ireland resident holidaying away from home but in his/her own country.

For further information or guidance visit www.nitb.com or contact: Anne-Marie Montgomery at the Northern Ireland Tourist Board Tel: 028 9044 1540 Email: a.montgomery@nitb.com This document can be made available on request in Braille, audio, large print, computer disk or PDF. Every care has been taken to ensure accuracy in the compilation of this document. NITB cannot accept responsibility for omissions or errors but these will be rectified in future publications when brought to our attention. nitb.com/research