The latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) data shows that more than 2,037,600 passengers arrived in Ireland from overseas routes in August – double the 821,700 arrivals the previous year.

Some 1,836,400 passengers arrived by air, and 201,300 by sea. 

More arrivals came from Great Britain – 689,700 compared to just 247,100 in August 2021 – than from any other country

Statistician Gregg Patrick said that the increase was even more substantial when compared with August 2020, when just 362,600 passengers arrived on these routes.

However, passenger arrivals remain significantly lower (9.7%) than pre-pandemic August 2019, when 2,256,500 passengers arrived on overseas routes.

The recovery is also spread across all major routes, with transatlantic traffic up most in relative terms – five passengers arrived on transatlantic routes in August 2022 for every one passenger in August 2021.

Busy Spanish routes

Spanish routes were the busiest continental routes, with 286,100 passengers arriving – a two-fold increase compared with August 2021.

Of the 2,037,600 passengers arriving in Ireland in August, 9.9% (201,300) arrived by sea.

This marks the end of a two-year period in which the mode of arrival was shifted in favour of sea travel, with 14.1% arriving by sea in August 2020, and 12.3% arriving by sea in August 2021.

It also returns the share of sea travel to its pre-pandemic balance (9.9% of passengers also arrived by sea in August 2019).