DUBLIN: The number of overseas visitors to Ireland continued to decline sharply in February, with no imminent improvement in sight for the pandemic-hit tourism sector, according to official statistics.

As per statistics, only 54,800 people visited Ireland from abroad in February,  down 49.2 per cent when compared with January and 95.5 per cent lower when compared with February 2020.  Xinhua news reported the country's national statistics bureau CSO as saying on Monday.

Of all the overseas visitors to Ireland in the month, 92.1 per cent of them arrived by air while 7.9 per cent of them arrived by sea, the CSO said in a statement. The European continent contributed 57.6 per cent to the total number of overseas visitors to Ireland in February, followed by Britain (24 per cent), according to the CSO figures.

During the first two months of this year, a total of 162,800 people visited Ireland from overseas, down 93.4 per cent year-on-year, said the CSO. The mandatory hotel quarantine regime recently implemented by the Irish government could further reduce the number of overseas visitors in the coming months, warned industry officials.

Starting from March 26, the Irish government demanded a 14-day mandatory quarantine at a designated facility for all the people arriving from 33 countries and regions deemed high risk for Covid-19 transmission.

Those who do not come from the high-risk areas but fail to produce a negative result of a Covid-19 test conducted within 72 hours prior to their arrival will also have to be quarantined for 14 days.

In 2019, over 10 million people visited Ireland from abroad, according to Tourism Ireland, a state agency.

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