164,400 overseas passengers came into Ireland in December

On an annual basis, this is considerably lower than in December 2019, when there were 1,372,600 arrivals and 1,383,800 departures, falls of 88.0% and 87.1% respectively. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Some 164,400 overseas passengers arrived into Ireland this December, while 178,800 passengers departed the country, new Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show.

On an annual basis, this is considerably lower than in December 2019, when there were 1,372,600 arrivals and 1,383,800 departures, falls of 88.0% and 87.1% respectively.

Today's figures also show that the number of arrivals and departures in December was considerably higher than the month prior, with a 58.3% increase in arrivals and 84.7% increase in departures on November 2020.

Overseas travel increases in Decemberhttps://t.co/qrBxsZxzDY #CSOIreland #Ireland #Tourism #Travel #Holidays #LoveIreland #OverseasTravel #AirAndSeaTravel pic.twitter.com/kvwoBzRS3l

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) January 29, 2021

The most important staging countries for people travelling overseas to Ireland last month were Great Britain (65,100), the Netherlands (14,700) and Spain (13,100).

Great Britain also topped the list of staging countries for persons travelling overseas from Ireland at 54,800, followed by Spain (19,200) and Poland (17,200).

In the year 2020, just 4,460,200 people arrived in Ireland from overseas and 4,452,600 departed. This represents decreases of 77.9% and 78.0%, respectively when compared to 2019.