New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that overseas travel in January of this year was approximately half that of pre-Covid January 2020.
The CSO recorded 584,100 overseas passenger arrivals and 562,300 overseas passenger departures in January 2022.
This compares to 108,000 arrivals and 118,700 departures in January 2021, representing increases of 440.8% and 373.6% respectively.
But the January figures marked a 16% decrease on the December 2021 figures, the CSO noted.
The CSO had reported a total of 1,235,100 arrivals and 1,239,800 departures in January 2020, before the outbreak of Covid-19.
Of the 584,100 people arriving in Ireland in January, 96.5% arrived by air and 3.5% arrived by sea, the CSO said.
Of the 562,300 people leaving Ireland, 94% departed by air and 6% left by sea.
Today's figures show that the continental route accounted for most passenger traffic, with 60.8% of arrivals and 52.8% of departures.
The cross-channel route was next busiest, with 28.2% of arrivals and 36.2% of departures.
But the transatlantic route saw just 6.9% of arrivals and 7.3% of departures, the CSO added.
Apart from Britain, the most important routing countries for overseas travel in January 2022 were Spain, France and the US.
