Goa to see higher passenger traffic with new terminal, check key facilities

The upcoming state-of-the-art terminal will boost cruise passenger traffic in Goa next year. The International and Domestic Cruise Terminal will be ready by March 2025 and will likely raise Goa’s competitiveness in the global cruise market, reported PTI citing an official on Sunday.
The growth prospect of cruise passenger traffic in the coastal state is in line with a 40 per cent rise in cruise passenger traffic at Mormugao Port Authority (MPA) in the financial year 2023-24.
The inauguration of the International and Domestic Cruise Terminal and allied facilities will bolster tourism and the local economy and enhance infrastructure development in the state, a senior MPA official told PTI on the sidelines of the Maritime States Development Council meeting held in Goa on September 12 and 13.
Tourists will be the key focus of the new under-construction facility at Murmugao Port in Goa. The international cruise terminal will have 24 immigration counters, ten check-in counters, and several other luxury facilities for foreign passengers travelling to India from abroad, reported PTI. The terminal will also have a waiting lounge and an exclusive shopping zone. 
There will be an experiential shopping zone for cruise tourists and will also be accessible for the general public, the official told PTI. Other highlights of the upcoming state-of-the-art terminal in Goa will be duty-free retain shops, food court, and other luxurious facilities.
“The domestic cruise terminal will have 12 check-in counters, waiting lounges and other facilities. Ancillary commercial building will have an experiential shopping zone aimed at cruise tourists and will also be accessible to the general public,” PTI quoted the official.
The construction of a high-end terminal will help the port facility meet the growing demand of tourists amid increase in global cruise liner traffic at the Murmugao Port. The recent trend also gives a hint of a substantial future growth of the port.
In the 2023-24 financial year, there was an increase in calls by cruise vessels by 15 per cent and and rise in cruise passengers by 40 per cent compared to FY 2022-23, he said.
As the Maritime States Development Council meeting began on September 12, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal visited the site of the proposed state-of-the-art building which will house the International and Domestic Cruise Terminal.