July sees increase in international travel but numbers way down on last year

The number of people travelling in and out of Ireland increased substantially in July but overall levels remain almost 90 per cent below 2019.

New data compiled by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed the number of people leaving the country rose from 73,900 in June to 275,400 in July, an increase of 273 per cent, in line with an easing of Covid-19 related restrictions.

However, despite the sharp spike in activity, it remains far behind 2019 when 2.2 million people left the country in the same month, 87 per cent higher.

July also saw 227,300 overseas arrivals into the country, compared to 57,100 in June, a boost of 298 per cent.

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“Nevertheless, overseas travel in July 2020 remained dramatically lower than in July 2019, when there were 2,225,900 arrivals and 2,183,900 departures, falls of 89.8 per cent and 87.4 per cent respectively,” the CSO said.

Of the 227,300 persons arriving in Ireland in July, 188,100 (82.7 per cent) arrived by air, and 39,200 by sea.

Of the 275,400 persons departing Ireland, 239,000 (86.8 per cent) departed by air and 36,400 by sea.

Most people leaving Ireland were destined for the UK (82,800), Spain (38,500) and Poland (23,800).

Of those arriving in Ireland, most were coming in from the UK (97,100), Spain (23,000) and France (13,200).

In terms of the total so far this year, about 3.4 million people have come into the country and the same amount have left. Both levels represent slightly more than a 70 per cent drop on last year.