Press Statement

Preasráiteas

29 March 2021

Go to release: Air and Sea Travel Statistics February 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (29 March 2021) released Air and Sea Travel Statistics February 2021.

Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, Statistician, said: “The Air and Sea Travel Statistics for February 2021 show a substantial fall in overseas travel compared to the preceding month. In February 2021, 54,800 overseas passengers arrived in Ireland, compared to 108,000 in January 2021, a decrease of 49.2%. In February 2021, 53,200 overseas passengers departed from Ireland, compared to 118,700 in January 2021, a decrease of 55.2%.

The February 2021 statistics show that continental routes contributed most to the passenger traffic. Some 31,600 passengers arrived on continental routes and 27,800 passengers departed on continental routes. By way of contrast, 13,200 passengers arrived on cross-channel routes and 17,200 passengers departed on cross-channel routes. Just 2,100 passengers arrived on transatlantic routes and 2,200 passengers departed on these routes.

Apart from Great Britain (which effectively accounted for all cross-channel routes), the most important routing countries for overseas travel in February 2021 were Spain (5,600 arrivals, 4,300 departures), Netherlands (5,200 arrivals, 4,500 departures) and France (4,700 arrivals, 4,300 departures).

 When we look at the year-to-date picture (January-February 2021), the statistics show that 162,800 overseas passengers arrived in Ireland and 171,900 overseas passengers departed from Ireland. This compares to almost 2.5 million arrivals and departures in the same period in 2020. This illustrates the ongoing dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international travel to and from Ireland.”

-- ENDS --