THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
Goa’s tourism story this year is being written on two very different tracks. While trains are bringing a steadily growing stream of visitors to the State, the aviation sector is struggling to find stability, with a record-breaking surge in passenger traffic in May giving way to a sharp year-on-year crash in June.
The contrasting trends have pointed to changing travel preferences among domestic tourists and fresh headwinds for the State’s air travel market.
Latest aviation data accessed by The Goan indicate that while rail traffic has maintained a steady upward trajectory through the first five months of 2026, air passenger movement has been far more erratic. A record-breaking surge in May was followed almost immediately by one of the steepest year-on-year declines in June.
Figures show that 19.88 lakh visitors arrived by train between January and May 2026, compared with 18.61 lakh during the corresponding period in 2025 -- a healthy 6.8 per cent increase.
The aviation picture, however, presents a far less predictable story.
In May 2026, Goa's airports witnessed an unprecedented surge, handling 18,18,485 passengers across 11,656 aircraft movements, almost double the 9,55,088 recorded in May 2025. Domestic passenger traffic alone reached 17,81,911 while the international passenger movement during the month stood at 36,574, compared with 40,046 a year earlier.
The exceptional May performance stands in sharp contrast to the trend witnessed during the preceding months.
After opening the year with 11.82 lakh passengers in January 2026, marginally higher than 11.65 lakh in January 2025, passenger traffic began losing momentum. February 2026 recorded 9.74 lakh passengers, falling short of 10.12 lakh in February 2025. March registered 9.84 lakh passengers, down from 10.62 lakh in the corresponding month last year, while April handled 8.61 lakh passengers, compared with 9.12 lakh in April 2025.
International traffic also reflected the softening demand. Although January 2026 recorded 86,491 international passengers, improving on 81,411 in January 2025, the gains were not sustained in the following months. By May 2026, international passenger numbers had slipped to 36,574, lower than the 40,046 recorded during the same month last year.
The downturn became significantly more pronounced in June 2026, when Goa registered one of the country's sharpest declines in domestic air traffic. Domestic passenger movement fell 19.4 per cent year-on-year, dropping from 5,65,727 passengers in June 2025 to 4,55,993 this June.
The slowdown has also reduced Goa's prominence on the national aviation map. During June, none of the domestic routes serving Goa featured among India's top 10 busiest flight sectors, a ranking dominated by high-frequency business and transit corridors such as Mumbai-Delhi, Bengaluru-Delhi and Mumbai-Bengaluru.
