Overseas travel increases but remains well below pre-pandemic levels

The number of passengers arriving and departing from the Republic rose significantly in July as the phased reopening of the economy continued.

Travel data from the Central Statistics Office shows there were 380,700 overseas arrivals and 428,600 overseas departures last month.

These compare with 160,000 arrivals and 199,100 departures the previous month – increases of 137 per cent and 115 per cent respectively.

However, the totals were still significantly below pre-pandemic levels for that time of year. In July 2019, there were 2.2 million arrivals and 2.18 million departures.

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The CSO figures show that of the 380,700 people arriving into Ireland in July, 85.8 per cent came by air and 14.2 per cent arrived by sea.

Of the 428,600 people leaving Ireland, 89.6 per cent departed by air and 10.4 per cent departed by sea.

The CSO said the continental route accounted for most passenger traffic, with 57.2 per cent of arrivals (217,700) and 67 per cent of departures (287,300).

The cross-channel route was next busiest, with 32.3 per cent of arrivals (123,100) and 25.8 per cent of departures (110,800), while the transatlantic route saw just 7 per cent of arrivals (26,700) and 4.3 per cent of departures (18,300)

However, in terms of specific routing countries for travelling directly to Ireland, Britain proved most important, accounting for 122,700 arrivals and 110,400 departures. Spain was the second most important routing country, with 42,300 arrivals and 66,400 departures. Poland was third most important with 26,000 arrivals and 36,500 departures.