Covid-19 restrictions halt recovery in overseas travel

Latest figures for November coincide with the introduction of tighter restrictions

Overseas travel to and from Ireland was severely curtailed by the introduction of fresh Covid-19 restrictions in late October and November. Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Overseas travel to and from Ireland was severely curtailed by the introduction of fresh Covid-19 restrictions in late October and November. Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Overseas travel to and from Ireland was severely curtailed by the introduction of fresh Covid-19 restrictions in late October and November.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office show there were 103,900 overseas passenger arrivals in November, down 35 per cent on the previous month and down 92 per cent on the same month last year.

There were 96,800 overseas passenger departures in November, down 40.7 per cent on the previous month and down 92.7 per cent on the November 2019 figure.

The CSO said overseas travel in November “remained dramatically lower” than in November 2019.

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Of the 103,900 people arriving in Ireland last month, 90,900 (87.6 per cent) arrived by air and 12,900 (12.4 per cent) arrived by sea.

Of the 96,800 persons departing Ireland, 85,100 (87.9 per cent) departed by air and 11,700 (12.1 per cent) departed by sea.

The figures predate the recent UK travel ban, which is likely to further dent travel numbers in December.

A ban on travel in and out of the UK was imposed by several European countries to contain a new coronavirus variant.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times