The number of passengers travelling to Ireland is still below pre-pandemic levels

Air travel maintained its dominance over sea travel as in 2019, over 1.7 million people travelled by air to Ireland and last month 1.5 million travellers chose to come to Ireland by plane.

The number of passengers travelling by air and sea are still “significantly lower” compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to the CSO.

In May 2022, almost 1.6 million overseas passengers arrived in Ireland. In May 2019, almost 1.8m people travelled to Ireland from overseas.

Despite an around 12.5% drop in overseas travellers to Ireland last month compared with May 2019, these figures are considerably higher than in 2020 and in 2021 when Covid-19 measures restricted peoples' movements.

“The Air and Sea Travel Statistics for May 2022 continue to show a rebound in overseas travel as Covid-19 concerns recede,” said statistician Gregg Patrick.

The recovery is also spread across all major routes, with transatlantic traffic up most with 35 transatlantic passengers arriving in May 2022 for every one in May 2021.

Among the continental routes, Spanish routes were the busiest, with 220,200 passengers arriving on these routes, a more than thirty-two-fold increase compared to May 2021.

However, in overall terms, Great Britain remained the most important departure country for overseas travellers to Ireland, with 536,200 passengers arriving on air and sea routes from Great Britain, compared to just 32,400 in May 2021.

Sea travel has become less popular than it was in May 2019 when compared with last months figures, the CSO figures showed. This is despite many climate experts stating it is more eco-friendly to travel by sea.

In May 2019, nearly 107,000 people travelled by sea to Ireland. However, in May 2022, this figure dropped to just over 90,000.

Air travel maintained its dominance over sea travel as in 2019, over 1.7 million people travelled by air to Ireland and last month 1.5 million travellers chose to come to Ireland by plane.

Although there are vastly more passengers choosing air travel, this does not necessarily mean people are opting out of sea travel. There are more routes connecting Ireland to other countries via air than sea.