Carol Nolan
Question:2. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Taoiseach the total number of international visitors that came to Ireland as tourists in each in each of the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. [56581/23]
View answerWednesday, 17 January 2024
Questions (2)
Written answers
The CSO estimates the number of foreign residents visiting Ireland from two sources. Firstly, it uses passenger data provided by airport authorities and sea ferry operators to determine the total number of passengers entering and leaving Ireland through all the main airports and seaports respectively. Secondly, the CSO conducts passenger surveys at the airports and seaports to differentiate these passenger flows into Irish and foreign residents. Historically, the CSO has been unable to compile statistics on cross-border visits, in part as much of this relates to vehicular traffic over the border, so Northern Ireland residents and other foreign residents entering Ireland cross border are excluded from the estimates.
The following table sets out the total numbers of arrivals and departures from airports and sea ports over the period 2019 – 2022.
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Table 1: All overseas passengers |
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Year |
Arrivals |
Departures |
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2019 |
20,143,700 |
20,205,300 |
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2020 |
4,460,200 |
4,452,600 |
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2021 |
4,955,900 |
5,022,000 |
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2022 |
17,257,000 |
17,172,300 |
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Source: CSO Air & Sea Travel Statistics |
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In 2019 an estimated 10,808,000 trips were made to Ireland by overseas foreign resident visitors. These comprised 1,450,000 same-day visits (including 969,000 air transfers) and 9,357,000 overnight visits. Unfortunately, the CSO does not have comparable statistics for the years 2020-2022, as the passenger surveys at airports and seaports were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic for reasons of public safety. As such, the breakdown of international and domestic visitors not available for those years. The CSO resumed full scale survey operations at airports and seaports in 2023. Results for 2023 are in the process of compilation and are expected to be released in March of this year.