As the mainland port for both the Arranmore car ferry service and the Arranmore fast ferry passenger service, Burtonport receives a lot of passing tourist traffic.
Burtonport had a railway service from Letterkenny between 1903 and 1940 provided by the Letterkenny & Burtonport Extension Railway (L&BER), a company jointly owned by the State and the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway (L&LSR).