Overseas travel at half pre-Covid level despite rise in passenger numbers

Overseas travel remains at half pre-Covid levels despite continued growth in passenger numbers last month, official figures show.

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 925,500 people arrived into the State by air or sea last month while 895,100 left.

Their numbers were close to five times the totals recorded in 2020, but are slightly more than than half the 1.73 million who travelled here in October 2019, or the 1.74 million who departed during the same month that year.

October’s totals marked an increase on September’s 810,100 arrivals and 792,000 departures, continuing growth that began when the Republic eased its Covid travel bans in July.

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For the year to date, 3.48 million people arrived into the State while 3.5 million departed.

This was about a fifth of the 17.4 million who travelled here in the first 10 months of 2019 or the 17.5 million who left the State during that time.

Gregg Patrick, CSO statistician, said the figures illustrated "the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on international travel to and from Ireland".

A breakdown of the numbers shows that 853,200 people flew here last month, while 72,400 arrived by sea. Almost 1.65 million flew here in October 2019 while 80,800 arrived by boat.

Last month, 821,200 people flew out of the Republic while 73,900 departed by sea. In October 2019, 1.66 million left the State by air while 79,800 went by sea.

Lifting of ban

The figures show that air travel accelerated once the Government lifted the legal ban on non-essential overseas journeys in mid July, weeks after the rest of the European Union.

More than 326,000 people flew into the State in July against 136,100 in June. The figure rose to 720,400 in August and 743,000 in September.

Similarly, 384,000 flew out of the Republic in July, against 174,700 in June. Those figures rose to 673,000 in August and 716,600 in September.

A United States ban on non-essential travel from the EU, only recently lifted, meant that transatlantic passengers accounted for just 39,000 arrivals and 42,100 departures last month.

The continent, home to popular holiday destinations, accounted for most travel in October, with 546,000 arrivals and 505,600 departures.

Britain followed with 314,000 arrivals and 322,900 departures. However, that made it the largest single route in October.

The second most travelled route was to Spain, responsible for 152,200 arrivals and 140,900 departures.

According to Mr Patrick, France ranked third with 58,900 arrivals and 52,600 departures, with Portugal next at 53,000 arrivals and 48,000 departures.