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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

28 January 2022

Air and Sea Travel Statistics December 2021

Overseas travel decreased in December
  • In December 2021, 692,900 passengers arrived in Ireland on overseas routes (down 12% on November 2021)
  • In the same month, 732,700 passengers departed from Ireland on overseas routes (down 7% on the previous month)
  • Overseas travel was considerably higher in December 2021 than in December 2020, when 164,400 passengers arrived, and 178,800 passengers departed
  • Overseas travel in December 2021 remains considerably lower than pre-pandemic December 2019, when 1,372,600 passengers arrived, and 1,383,800 passengers departed
  • Looking at the year 2021, five million overseas passengers both arrived in and departed from Ireland compared to 20.1 million arrivals and 20.2 million departures in the same period in 2019

Go to release: Air and Sea Travel Statistics December 2021

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (28 January 2022) released Air and Sea Travel Statistics December 2021.

Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, Statistician, said: “The Air and Sea Travel Statistics for December 2021 show a decrease in overseas travel compared to the preceding month. In December 2021, 692,900 overseas passengers arrived in Ireland, compared to 785,800 in November 2021, a decrease of 12%. In December 2021, 732,700 overseas passengers departed from Ireland, compared to 785,000 in November 2021, a decrease of 7%.

 

The December 2021 statistics show that continental routes contributed most to the passenger traffic. Some 329,400 passengers arrived on continental routes and 396,100 passengers departed on continental routes. By way of contrast, 285,400 passengers arrived on cross-channel routes and 255,600 passengers departed on cross-channel routes. Just 55,800 passengers arrived on transatlantic routes and 56,500 passengers departed on these routes.

 

Apart from Great Britain (which accounted for all cross-channel routes), the most important routing countries for overseas travel in December 2021 were Spain (69,400 arrivals, 86,600 departures), the United States (49,000 arrivals, 49,000 departures) and France (39,400 arrivals, 46,500 departures).

 

When we look at the year 2021, the statistics show that five million overseas passengers travelled to and from Ireland. This compares with both 4.5 million arrivals and departures in the same period in 2020 and 20.1 million arrivals and 20.2 million departures in 2019. This illustrates the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international travel to and from Ireland.”

For further information contact:

Gregg Patrick (+353) 21 453 5202 or James Mahon (+353) 21 453 5463

or email tourism@cso.ie

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