Goa saw one crore tourists in 2025, but foreign arrivals below pre-Covid levels

PANAJI: Goa officially breached the 1 crore mark in total tourist arrivals again, but a deep dive into the 2025 statistics revealed a starkly different reality for the state’s international segment. While the domestic market is booming, foreign tourist arrivals are struggling to regain their pre-pandemic footing, currently sitting at nearly 42% below 2017 levels, data released by the department showed. In 2017, Goa welcomed 8.9 lakh foreign tourists. By 2025, that number dwindled to 5.2 lakh. This decline stands in sharp contrast to the domestic market, which skyrocketed from 68.9 lakh in 2017 to a record-breaking 1 crore in 2025, propelling total arrivals to an all-time high of nearly 1.1 crore travellers.The most dramatic collapse was observed in the charter flight segment, traditionally the backbone of Goa’s winter tourism. In 2017, the state saw 1,024 charter flights bringing in nearly 2.5 lakh tourists. By 2025, this plummeted to 189 flights carrying 40,336 passengers, a shadow of its former volume.Even with the operationalisation of the Manohar International Airport (Mopa) alongside Dabolim, the combined charter traffic continued to slide annually since the pandemic recovery began. “The tourist arrival data highlights a clear recovery trajectory across all segments, particularly in the post-pandemic period. The consistent growth in domestic tourism, the return of international charter operations, increased international flight movements through both Dabolim and Mopa airports, and the steady contribution of cruise tourism reflect coordinated efforts in infrastructure development, connectivity enhancement, and destination management,” said tourism director Kedar Naik.The scheduled international flight segment showed more resilience, but did not fully recover. In 2017, scheduled flights brought in nearly 3.4 lakh foreign visitors. In 2025, that figure stood at nearly 2.4 lakh. Notably, Mopa quickly became the primary gateway for these travellers, handling 1,141 international flights in 2025 compared to Dabolim’s 643 flights.“Foreign tourist arrivals through charter flights played an important role in Goa’s inbound tourism, particularly from traditional source markets. Foreign tourist arrivals through international scheduled flights consistently contributed to Goa’s inbound tourism. In 2017, 2,460 international flights operated through Dabolim airport, carrying 3,35,573 foreign tourists. This number gradually declined until 2021, when only 265 flights and 11,971 tourists were recorded due to travel restrictions. A steady recovery began in 2022, with 1,135 flights and 1,34,922 tourists,” said a tourism department official.Cruise tourism is also undergoing a demographic shift. While the total number of cruise passengers remained healthy at 51,510 passengers in 2025, the vast majority are now domestic travellers. Foreign cruise passengers, who numbered over 40,822 in 2017, accounted for just 10,086 arrivals in 2025.Tourism minister Rohan Khaunte remained optimistic, pointing to the “resilience” of the sector. He said that the steady rise in domestic arrivals and the gradual revival of international segments, bolstered by improved connectivity via Mopa, underlined the state’s “destination readiness”.