Visit Belfast — Triple Bottom Line Impact of Tourism Dashboard

The data presented below provides a consolidated summary of the economic, social and environmental KPIs that Visit Belfast has tracked consistently over a number of years. This approach ensures transparency, supports robust performance monitoring, and demonstrates ongoing accountability in measuring the impact of the visitor economy.

visitBelfast
📅 Reporting year

Economic performance of Belfast's visitor economy — total tourism value by sector and visitor volumes by type. Indicators show performance vs same-year target.

💷 Economic Value
Leisure + Business Events + Cruise + Visitor Servicing = Total Economic Impact
Total economic impact — actual vs target (£m)
Annual actual impact compared to the same year's target
Actual Target
Economic impact stacked by sector (£m)
How each sector builds up to total economic impact
Leisure Business Events Cruise Visitor Servicing
👥 Visitor Numbers
Cruise Visitors + Leisure Overnight Trips + Leisure Day Trips + Conference Delegates = Total Visits
Total visits — actual vs target
Total visits compared to the annual target
Actual Target
Visitor breakdown — stacked by type
Cruise, overnight, day trip and conference volumes stacked to show composition
Cruise Overnight Day trips Conf. delegates

Environmental performance — Belfast's tourism carbon footprint, Visit Belfast's own organisational carbon footprint, industry sustainability practices, clients supported and GDS Index performance.

🌍 Belfast Tourism Carbon Footprint
Total carbon footprint of all tourism activity in Belfast — calendar year data, independent of FY reporting
📅 Footprint year
Footprint by category (ktCO₂e)
Carbon contribution by tourism spend category for selected year
Total tourism footprint trend
Total Belfast tourism carbon footprint 2019→2024 with % change from 2019 baseline
Total ktCO₂e
📅 Reporting year — FY data below
🏢 Visit Belfast Organisational Carbon Footprint
Visit Belfast's own operational footprint by scope — first measured FY 2024/25. Scope 3 includes staff travel, printed materials and commuting.
Carbon footprint by scope (tCO₂e)
Scope 1 (direct), Scope 2 (energy) and Scope 3 (value chain) — 2024/25 and 2025/26
Scope 1 Scope 2 Scope 3
📊 Industry Sustainability & GDS Performance
Industry adoption of sustainable practices, clients and partners supported, and Belfast's Global Destination Sustainability Index performance
Industry sustainability practices (%)
% of VB industry partners adopting key sustainability practices — 2024/25 vs 2025/26
2024/25 2025/26
Clients & partners supported on sustainability
Number of clients and partners supported on their sustainability journey
Partners supported
GDS global destination ranking
Belfast's rank among all indexed destinations (lower = better)
Global rank
GDS overall destination score (%)
Overall GDS Index score for Belfast as a sustainable destination
GDS score %

Social impact — resident sentiment, charitable fundraising, volunteering, neighbourhood tourism partnerships and inclusive tourism across all four reporting years.

🏘️ Resident Sentiment
First measured 2024/25 — % of Belfast residents who agreed with each statement about tourism
Resident sentiment — 2024/25 baseline survey
% of residents agreeing with each statement. First survey conducted 2024/25; future years will enable trend analysis.
🤝 Community & Social Impact
Charitable fundraising, volunteering, neighbourhood partnerships and educational outreach
Changing The Menu. For Good — cumulative funds raised
Running total of funds raised for food banks and homeless charities across all years
Cumulative funds raised (£)
Neighbourhood tourism partnerships & referrals
Active neighbourhood partnerships and referrals generated
Active partnerships Referrals (000s)