Press Statement

Preasráiteas

30 November 2020

Go to release: Air and Sea Travel Statistics October 2020

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (30 November 2020) released Air and Sea Travel Statistics October 2020.

Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, Statistician, said: ‘The Air and Sea Travel Statistics for October 2020 show a substantial decrease in overseas travel compared to the preceding month. In October 2020, 160,900 overseas passengers arrived in Ireland, compared to 254,400 in September, a decrease of 36.8%. In October 2020, 163,300 overseas passengers departed Ireland, compared to 236,700 in September, a decrease of 31.0%.

The October 2020 statistics show that continental routes contributed most to the passenger traffic. Some 91,000 passengers arrived on continental routes and 87,900 passengers departed on continental routes. By way of contrast, 56,400 passengers arrived on cross-channel routes and 62,500 passengers departed on cross-channel routes. Just 5,600 passengers arrived on transatlantic routes and 5,900 passengers departed on these routes.

Apart from Great Britain (which accounts for almost all cross-channel routes), the most important routing countries for overseas travel in October 2020 were Spain (13,700 arrivals, 15,900 departures), Poland (13,500 arrivals, 13,400 departures) and the Netherlands (8,900 arrivals, 8,300 departures).

When we look at the year-to-date picture (January-October 2020), the statistics show that more than 4 million overseas passengers travelled to and from Ireland. This compares to more than 17 million overseas passengers in the same period in 2019. This illustrates the continuing and dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international travel to and from Ireland.’

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