AQW 43083/22-27 Written question to the Minister for Communities
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) the number of visitors to PRONI; and (ii) a breakdown of the countries visitors have come from, for each of the last five years.
Asked by Kellie Armstrong MLA on 24 March 2026
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 24 March 2026
- Answer due by
- 10 April 2026
- Answered
- 1 April 20268 days after tabling
- Department
- Department for Communities
- Priority question
- No
Answer
The attached statistics are taken from the annual Digest of Statistics for the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland which is validated by the Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency. The Digest for 2024-25 is currently being collated and is not yet available, however the published figures for 2019-2024 are included below.
The Digest only validates countries-of-origin for new visitors. The percentage numbers for those are attached below. During the lockdowns of 2020-21, PRONI was only able to accommodate existing visitors so there is no country-of-origin data available for that year.
| Year | Total Visitors |
| 2023-24 | 16,060 |
| 2022-23 | 8,857 |
| 2021-22 | 8,407 |
| 2020-21 | 5,424 |
| 2019-20 | 17,798 |
| Breakdown of Visitors per Country of Origin | |||||
| 2023-24 | 2022-23 | 2021-22 | 2020-21 | 2019-20 | |
| Northern Ireland | 48% | 53% | 66% | - | 44% |
| USA | 18% | 15% | 4% | - | 19% |
| England & Wales | 11% | 14% | 11% | - | 12% |
| Canada | 7% | 5% | 4% | - | 7% |
| Australia & New Zealand | 6% | 3% | 4% | - | 9% |
| Ireland | 5% | 6% | 8% | - | 4% |
| Scotland | 3% | 1% | - | 2% | |
| Other | 1% | 0% | 2% | - | 2% |
| Don’t Know | - | - | 2% | - | - |