Cruise calling increases in India in the past two years

Union Minister of State for Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya said that the initiatives undertaken to bring in synergy in the functionality of various stakeholders have resulted in a nearly four-fold jump in cruise callings on Indian ports in the last two years. The cruise industry contributes a sign9ificant amount to the national economy. On the major five ports like Chennai, Cochin, Mumbai, Mangalore and Mormugao, a total of 138 ships carried a total of 1.76 lakh passengers in fiscal2017-18. Mandaviya said, "This number increased to 285 callings inFY19 and is projected to rise to 593 cruise traffic in the current fiscal. This was possible only because of the initiatives our government has taken to promote cruise tourism in the country".

The minister was recently in Mumbai for the fourth India sailing season of Italy flag Costa Victoria. He said that apart from these five ports two more ports namely Kolkata and Vizag are being developed for cruise traffic would soon start getting calls. Costa Victoria is the biggest cruise with the capacity of 2,394 passengers. It is the first biggest cruise to do homeporting in Mumbai. He further said that government is taking initiatives to develop inland waterways for river cruise tourism. Cruise tourism is currently one of the fastest developing verticals in the Indian tourism sector. The government sees cruise tourism as a major source of employment because of its labour-intensive nature.