Panaji: Goa’s hospitality sector continues to be stable with the state seeing the arrival of 59 lakh domestic tourists and 2.4 lakh international travellers between Jan and July, a 0.08% increase compared to the corresponding period last year. However, July did see slightly better growth in tourist arrivals, with a 2.3% growth over July 2025, according to the tourism department’s latest data.In July, the department recorded 6.9 lakh tourist arrivals, with tourism minister Rohan Khaunte describing the pickup during the monsoon as encouraging.“The July figures are particularly significant as they point to continued demand during the monsoon, traditionally considered an off-peak period for Goa. The state has been actively promoting monsoon tourism and experience-led travel, encouraging visitors to explore Goa’s hinterland, culture, wellness, cuisine, nature and adventure offerings during the green season,” said tourism director Kedar Naik.State is also intensifying efforts to expand its international tourism footprint by engaging in emerging and established source markets, while strengthening air connectivity and developing targeted tourism products.“We are looking beyond numbers and working to diversify our offerings and our markets, strengthen international connectivity and build tourism products that can attract visitors across seasons. Our objective is not just to bring more tourists to Goa, but to bring the right audiences for the experiences Goa has to offer. Wellness, heritage, MICE, adventure, nautical tourism, spiritual tourism, gastronomy and workation are creating new reasons for tourists to visit Goa beyond the traditional beach holidays,” said Khaunte.With 61.4 lakh visitors already recorded in the first seven months the department expects the second half of the year to benefit from the upcoming festive, leisure, MICE and international charter arrivals. Concord Exotic Voyages, one of Goa’s longest-serving international charter operators, expects to bring much over 45,000 international tourists during the 2026–27 season through its charter operations from the CIS region.Discussions are underway to start new charters from Belarus, Armenia, Moldova and Bishkek.
