Overseas travel declined in November amid concerns over a fresh wave of Covid-19 infections.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed a total of 785,800 people arrived into the State last month, down 15 per cent on October figures, while 785,000 left. That was a 12 per cent decline compared to the previous month.
It was still considerably higher than November last year when 103,900 passengers arrived, and 96,800 passengers departed. However, pre-pandemic, 1.35 million passengers arrived into the Republic, and 1.328 passengers left.
In the year to date, 4.263 million overseas passengers have arrived in Ireland, with 4.29 million departing. That is in line with the 4.3 million arrivals and departures in 2020, but less than a quarter of the 18.8 million arrivals and departures before the pandemic hit.
"This illustrates the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on international travel to and from Ireland," said CSO statistician Gregg Patrick.
Some 96 per cent of arrivals were by air, the figures showed, with the remaining 31,300 arriving by sea. The majority of departures – 95.5 per cent – were via air routes, with more than 35,000 passengers leaving the State by sea.
Routes
Continental routes contributed most to passenger traffic, according to the data.
“Some 412,000 passengers arrived on continental routes and 397,300 passengers departed on continental routes,” Mr Patrick said. “By way of contrast, 313,800 passengers arrived on cross-channel routes and 322,700 passengers departed on cross-channel routes. Just 37,300 passengers arrived on transatlantic routes and 46,700 passengers departed on these routes.”
Britain accounted for all cross-channel routes, with Spain accounting for 94,700 arrivals and 85,700 departures. That was followed by Germany with 45,800 arrivals and 47,900 departures.
