Passenger arrivals 7.7% fewer than pre-pandemic
Key Findings
- More than 1,726,100 passengers arrived in Ireland on overseas routes in September 2022.
- This compares with 810,100 arrivals in September 2021 (a more than two-fold increase).
- Some 1,626,800 passengers arrived by air and 99,200 by sea in September 2022.
- More arrivals came via Great Britain (525,200) than via any other country in September 2022.
Statistician’s Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (28 October 2022) released Air and Sea Travel Statistics for September 2022.
Commenting on the release, Gregg Patrick, Statistician in the Tourism and Travel Division, said: “The latest Air and Sea Travel Statistics show 1,726,100 passengers arrived in Ireland on overseas routes in September 2022. These passengers, comprising foreign visitors arriving in Ireland and Irish overseas travellers returning home, represent a very substantial increase on September 2021, when 810,100 passengers arrived on overseas routes. The increase is even more substantial when compared with September 2020 when just 254,400 passengers arrived on these routes. However, passenger arrivals remain significantly lower (7.7%) than pre-pandemic September 2019, when 1,871,100 passengers arrived on overseas routes.
The recovery is seen in both modes of travel (air and sea), although the recovery in air travel is most pronounced as it has more than doubled when compared with September 2021. The recovery is also spread across all major routes, with transatlantic traffic up most in relative terms with five passengers arriving on transatlantic routes in September 2022 for every one passenger in September 2021. Among the continental routes, Spanish routes were the busiest, with 250,200 passengers arriving on these routes, an almost two-fold increase compared to September 2021.
However, in overall terms, Great Britain remained the most important departure country for overseas travel to Ireland, with 525,200 passengers arriving on air and sea routes from Great Britain, compared to just 252,500 in September 2021.”
Air and Sea Travel by Mode, September 2019-September 2022
Of the 1,726,100 passengers arriving in Ireland in September 2022, 94.3% (1,626,800) arrived by air and 5.7% (99,200) arrived by sea. This means the share of sea travel has returned to its September 2019 pre-pandemic level when 5.7% of passengers also arrived by sea.
Figure 1: Air and Sea Passenger Arrivals, September 2019 – September 2022
View the full CSO report.
