Derry and Strabane have recorded major tourism growth in 2025, according to new figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
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 over £93,500,000.
Compared with 2024, overnight trips to the district increased by 35%, while the number of nights visitors stayed rose by 28% to 1,206,000, and visitor expenditure also grew by 13.5%.
This significantly outpaces the Northern Ireland average, where overnight trips grew by 9% over the same period.
Derry City and Strabane District Council says 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.
The council is currently developing a new Tourism Action Plan for 2026–2031, and this growth, they say, provides a strong foundation for more ambitious targets around visitor spend, length of stay and employment.
