Press Statement

Preasráiteas

29 January 2021

Go to release: Air and Sea Travel Statistics December 2020

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (29 January 2021) released Air and Sea Travel Statistics December 2020.

Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, Statistician, said: "The Air and Sea Travel Statistics for December 2020 show a substantial increase in overseas travel compared to the preceding month. In December 2020, 164,400 overseas passengers arrived in Ireland, compared to 103,900 in November, an increase of 58.3%. In December 2020, 178,800 overseas passengers departed from Ireland, compared to 96,800 in November, an increase of 84.7%.

The December 2020 statistics show that continental routes contributed most to the passenger traffic. Some 79,100 passengers arrived on continental routes and 107,100 passengers departed on continental routes. By way of contrast, 65,100 passengers arrived on cross-channel routes and 54,800 passengers departed on cross-channel routes. Just 11,700 passengers arrived on transatlantic routes and 7,900 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 December 2020 were the Netherlands (14,700 arrivals, 15,300 departures), Spain (13,100 arrivals, 19,200 departures) and Poland (11,200 arrivals, 17,200 departures).

When we look at the year 2020, the statistics show that 4.5 million overseas passengers travelled to and from Ireland. This compares to 20.1 million and 20.2 million overseas arrivals and departures respectively in 2019. This illustrates the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international travel to and from Ireland."

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