Northern Ireland tourism visits have doubled since the Good Friday Agreement from 7.5m in 1998 to 16.5m

Northern Ireland has seen visits to its tourist attractions more than double since the Good Friday Agreement was signed 25 years ago.

Figures from Tourism NI show that since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, visits to tourism attractions in Northern Ireland have risen from 7.5 million in 1998 to 16.5 million.

Furthermore, out of state holiday spending by visitors to Northern Ireland has risen from £32 million in 1998 to £299 million, an increase of 834%.

The past 25 years has also seen major investment, supported by government funding and other funding sources, in major projects and visitor experiences including Titanic Belfast, The Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre, and the Game of Thrones exhibition.

Figures from Tourism NI show that domestic holiday trips have also seen a huge 179% increase since the historic peace deal, from 543,000 in 1998 to 1.517 million.

In addition, domestic holiday spend has increased by 271% from £63m to £234 million.

Major event such as the Irish Open, the Irish Open and the Giro d’Italia have also been showcased to the world from Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland now has 141 hotels, 75% of which have been refurbished or built since 2003. These hotels have a combined 9,432 bedrooms compared to 4,900 in 1998. The hotel sector has seen £1bn of investment in the last 20 years, around £50m per annum with a possible £300m more by 2025.

The statistics are released as Ellvena Graham, chair of Tourism NI, addressed the `Agreement 25’ event at Queen’s University, Belfast on Wednesday.

The three-day event has brought together key figures and the remaining lead architects of the Good Friday Agreement to both reflect on its achievements and to discuss the challenges and solutions needed to drive forward a peaceful and prosperous future for Northern Ireland.

On Wednesday, QUB with the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils hosted an economic summit event with two panels focusing on the future economic opportunities of Northern Ireland.

During a panel discussion Ellvena Graham outlined the impact of the peace dividend on the tourism industry.

Commenting on the tourism benefits, Ellvena Graham, said: “The past three days has focused worldwide attention on Northern Ireland and once again highlighted the benefits of peace, not least for our tourism industry. The increase in visitors to the region since the Good Friday Agreement is testament to the hard work and vision of many people from across Northern Ireland and further afield and we should be proud of the huge increase in spend by out of state holiday visitors since 1998, a phenomenal achievement. We’ve also seen major investment in our tourism attractions with more exciting plans in the pipeline.”