DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland saw a 20.0 percent increase in people arriving from overseas in April 2023, compared to April 2022, reaching 1.7 million.

The numbers were released this week by Ireland's Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Further, according to the Statistics Office, over 1.78 million people arrived in Ireland in April 2023, compared to 1,476,600 in April 2022.

Of these arrivals, 1,676,600 people came to Ireland by air and 108,300 arrived by sea.

Also, 634,500 passengers came to Ireland via Great Britain.

"These passengers, comprising foreign visitors arriving in Ireland and Irish overseas travelers returning home, represented a substantial increase on April 2022, when 1,476,600 passengers arrived on overseas routes. This growth is even more substantial when compared with April 2021, when just 69,400 passengers arrived on these routes. Passenger arrivals are higher than pre-pandemic April 2019, when 1,712,900 passengers arrived on overseas routes, representing an increase of 4.2 percent" said Gregg Patrick of the Statistics Office, as reported by Hospitality Ireland.

"The recovery is seen in both modes of travel air and sea although the recovery in air travel is most pronounced, as it was up by 21.8 percent in April 2023, compared with April 2022. The recovery is also spread across all major routes, with transatlantic traffic up most 40.6 percent in relative terms, increasing from 120,800 in April 2022 to 169,800 in April 2023. Among the Continental routes, Spanish routes remain the busiest, with 245,900 passengers arriving on these routes in April 2023 a 24.4 percent increase, compared with April 2022.

"However, in overall terms, Great Britain remained the most important departure country for overseas travel to Ireland, with 634,500 passengers arriving on air and sea routes from Great Britain in April 2023, compared with just 548,300 in April 2022."