India seeks ASEAN collaboration to boost cruise tourism
India is seeking closer tourism ties with Southeast Asia by establishing a cruise tourism network feeding into the region.
India has long been keen to tap into the cruising boom in Asia and India’s Union Minister Nitin Gadkari opened talks with Singapore to establish cruise connectivity.
The road transport and shipping minister said this week at the India-Asean Connectivity Summit there is huge potential which could boost the number of ship calls in India from the current 80 ship a year to more than 900.
"The cruises from India could go to Singapore, Philippines and Thailand and the projects will be developed by a public private partnership mode," the minister said.
A new cruise port is being developed in Mumbai but currently only five of the current 12 major ports in India have facilities able to handle international cruise ships.
Although still very small in global terms, the domestic cruise market is expected to grow to about 1.5 million passengers annually within the next 15 years.
It is estimated about 300,000 Indians fly overseas to take international cruises, many of which begin in Singapore.
At the summit a $1 billion line of credit was announced to promote sea, air and road connectivity between India and Southeast Asia.
Last month Mumbai welcomed its first luxury ship calls with sailings to Cochin and the Maldives aboard the Costa neoClassica.
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