Visitor numbers soar in Derry and Strabane as 2025 tourism spend nears £94 Million
The Derry and Strabane District Council have said that Derry has seen a substantial growth in overnight visitors in 2025, according to NISRA statistics.
The latest figures released this week by NISRA indicated that the Derry and Strabane area welcomed 399,478 overnight trips during 2025, generating a total visitor spend of £93,579,475.
According to NISRA statistics, compared with 2024, overnight trips to the district increased by 35%, while the number of nights visitors stayed rose by 28% to 1,206,934 and visitor expenditure also grew, increasing by 13.5%.
A spokesperson for the council said that the strong performance significantly outpaces the Northern Ireland average, where overnight trips grew by 9% over the same period.
“The figures represent substantial progress towards the ambitions of the city and district's Tourism Strategy ambition, which focused on increasing visitor spend, supporting employment and strengthening the destination offering,” said the council.
The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Colr Ruairí McHugh said: “These figures are hugely encouraging and reflect the growing appeal of our city and district as a world-class tourism destination. To see overnight trips increase by 35% in a single year, significantly ahead of the average across the North, is a tremendous achievement for everyone involved in our tourism and hospitality sector. From our vibrant cultural offering and internationally recognised events programme to our stunning landscapes, heritage and warm welcome, more visitors are choosing Derry and Strabane and, importantly, they are staying longer and spending more while they are here.”
Odhran Dunne, Chief Executive with Visit Derry has also welcomed the statistics. He said: “The latest tourism figures are a fantastic endorsement of the strength of the city and district's investment in its tourism offering and the collaborative approach taken by Visit Derry and the local industry to promote the destination in key national and international markets. We have continued to see strong demand for the destination in our top source markets aligned to quality accommodation, authentic visitor experiences, world-class events, our food and hospitality offering, and the unique story of our city and district. The significant growth in overnight trips and visitor spend demonstrates the importance of the relationships with national and international travel trade and targeted sales and campaign activity to maximise the potential of the destination to compete in a highly competitive tourism marketplace.”
Jennifer O’Donnell, Tourism Manager with Derry City and Strabane District Council said: “Tourism continues to play a vital role in supporting jobs, businesses and investment across the district, with almost £94 million generated in visitor spend during 2025. This growth reflects the ambition of the 2018–2025 Tourism Strategy and the success of collaborative delivery across Council, Visit Derry, industry partners and local businesses. We are currently developing a new Tourism Action Plan for 2026–2031 and this growth provides a strong foundation for more ambitious targets around visitor spend, length of stay and employment. These results give us real confidence that we are well positioned to continue to grow our share of the tourism market and deliver even greater economic benefit for the City and District.”
The latest NISRA figures for Northern Ireland recorded 5.1 million overnight trips in 2025, with associated expenditure of £1.2 billion across the region.