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Tourism

Over the last decade Northern Ireland has been transformed and is now considered a ‘must-see’ tourism destination.

In recent times the world spotlight has shone on everything from our industrial and maritime heritage to our music, our golfing credentials, our unique stories, and breathtaking scenery. Northern Ireland is not only a great place to visit, it's also an attractive location in which to live, work, study and invest.

Our tourism infrastructure has been bolstered by the development of five high-profile visitor attractions – Saint Patrick and Christian Heritage; the Mournes; Causeway Coast and Glens; the Walled City of Derry; and Titanic – which have international standout and world-class excellence. Northern Ireland also enjoys global recognition as a filming location.  HBO's epic fantasy television series Game of Thrones® was largely filmed in the region and other companies such as Universal Pictures and Disney have chosen Northern Ireland for recent productions.

The Giant’s Causeway remains Northern Ireland’s top visitor attraction welcoming one million visitors in 2019.  Other new visitor attractions include the Cuilcagh mountain boardwalk in County Fermanagh and Seamus Heaney Homeplace in Bellaghy County Derry.

While Tourism Northern Ireland is the lead agency in developing the tourism sector, there is a range of support available to the tourism accommodation sector through Invest NI.

  • 5.3 million people visited in 2019, spending a record-breaking £1 billion.

  • Overnight visitors from outside the region exceeded three million for the first time in 2019.

  • 167 cruise ships docked Northern Ireland ports in 2019, compared to 128 in 2018.

  • In 2019, there was a 9% increase in tourism employee jobs on previous years.

Please get in touch.  You can find a team in your region or fill in an enquiry form and a member of the team will contact you directly.

For information on how we use your personal data including your rights, see our privacy notice.

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