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Ireland: 77% decrease in tourists entries in 2020 due to the pandemic

As always, the majority of tourists in Ireland in 2020 came from the United Kingdom, (7,037,200 tourists in 2019 ; 1,747,100 in 2020).

A new study made by Hellosafe reveals that tourism in the Republic of Ireland has been dramatically impacted by the actual pandemic in 2020. Indeed, there has been 14,475,300 less tourists in 2020 than in 2019, representing a terrible decline of 77.1%.

Focus on the number of tourists in Ireland during the past year
As in many countries across the world, 2020 has been a terrible year for the tourism industry in the Republic of Ireland. In the below table, we observe that the number of arrivals in Eire decreases dramatically from March 2020 (635,000 entries) to April 2020 (16,100).

This decline of 97.47% can be explained by all the measures taken by the Irish government to stop the pandemic, which resulted in restrictions for foreigners to enter the national territory. However, we can see that the number of arrivals rose in May (+ 75.78%), with a progressive recovery until August 2020. This temporary progress was possible thanks to the easing of restrictions during this period and by the fact that people tend to travel more in the summer season.

Then, starting from August 2020, the number of arrivals is decreasing again (- 29.84%) with the second wave of the virus in Europe and with autumn traditionally being the poorest season for tourism in Ireland.

From which parts of the world did tourists come in 2020?
We observe in the below table that the number of arrivals decreases a lot from 2019 to 2020, no matter from which part of the world. Indeed, the decrease rate of entries per geographical origin does not go below 71.5% (United Arab Emirates)! This rate even goes down to more than 90% for the “other transatlantic” category.

As always, the majority of tourists in Ireland in 2020 came from the United Kingdom, (7,037,200 tourists in 2019 ; 1,747,100 in 2020). A lot of tourists are also coming from Spain: 2,236,200 in 2019 and still 399,500 in 2020 despite the pandemic. It is no surprise to see that the majority of tourists come from the EU and the UK since it is geographically closer to Ireland and easier to travel to with restrictions due to the pandemic.

What are the reasons for departures and entries in Ireland?
Te below graph shows the reasons why people traditionally travel to Ireland and why Irish people go overseas. These numbers are from the last quarter of 2019, meaning before the pandemic start. Indeed, those numbers aren’t biased by the Covid-19 crisis, and are representative of a “normal” period of time.

The majority of people are coming to Ireland for holidays, leisure or recreation (1,040,000 travelers over the last quarter of 2019). That’s also the principal reason for Irish citizens to leave their country (1,161,000). On the other hand, very few Irish people leave for business (only 216,000). But, almost 400,000 are coming to Ireland for business in the last 3 months of 2019. Indeed, Ireland attracts a lot of companies due to its attractive taxation.

Over the same period of time, nearly 800,000 people came to Ireland to visit friends or relatives. On the other way round, 477,000 Irish are going overseas for the same reason. There is very few people coming in Ireland for another reason that the three listed above (318,000). It’s even fewer for Irish people: only 55,000 are going overseas for another reason than holiday, business or to visit a friend/relative.

Antoine Fruchard, insurance expert and CEO at Hellosafe.ca, says “With all the restrictions going all around the world to stop the pandemic, it was very difficult to travel during the past year. Indeed, the data show that there has been less tourists in 2020 than in 2019 in the Republic of Ireland but also in the rest of the world. This complex situation will stop only when the Covid-19 will be under control. In the meantime, the tourism sector will continue to suffer from all countries’ restrictions. We surely hope that 2021 will be better for tourism with the control of the pandemic and the return of the pre-Covid indicators.”

News Editor - TravelDailyNews Media Network | + Posts

Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.

She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.

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