Goa achieves astonishing 160% surge in foreign tourist arrivals

In 2023, Goa saw a remarkable 160% increase in foreign tourist arrivals compared to the previous year, according to the latest data from the Union Ministry of Tourism.

The number of international visitors surged from 22,128 in 2021, during the height of the Covid pandemic, to 1.7 lakh in 2022, and further climbed to 4.5 lakh in 2023.

While Goa attracted more foreign tourists than Karnataka in 2023, it still lagged behind Kerala by 1.9 lakh visitors.

Additionally, data revealed that passenger traffic at Goa’s Dabolim International Airport decreased by 17% from the 2019-20 period, when the airport handled 83.5 lakh passengers under the management of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Manohar International Airport offers flights to several international destinations, including Gatwick, Muscat, Doha, Sharjah, Sheremetyevo, Tashkent, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, and Warsaw. In contrast, Dabolim Airport is presently linked to Dubai, Manama, and Almaty.

During the 2022-23 period, Dabolim Airport managed 83.5 lakh passengers, a figure comparable to 2019-20.

However, passenger traffic at Dabolim fell to 68.7 lakh in 2023-24.

On the other hand, Mopa Airport, which began operations in January 2023, served 6.6 lakh passengers, with this number rising to 4.4 lakh in the 2023-24 period, according to data from the Centre.