Goa’s Cruise tourism ready to make a splash

Goa’s Cruise tourism ready to make a splash

Dated: Jul 3, 2012

PANAJI: The rapid growth of the middle-class segment with rising purchasing power in Asian and South-East Asian countries holds great potential for cruise tourism in the country, Biplav Kumar, director of India Tourism said.

Speaking at a cruise tourism workshop organized by the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) in Vasco to highlight the importance of marketing and infrastructure in the case of tourism, especially in Goa, Kumar said, “Several studies show that India will be the hotspot for global tourism in the next eight to ten years.”

But cruise tourism is still in its infancy. “Only one lakh cruise passengers in 2010-11 and only 129 cruise ships came to Indian ports in 2010-11,” he said. This is a meager share of 6.29 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2011.

MP and chairman of estimates committee of Parliament, Francisco Sardinha explained, “Many people have preconceived notions of India and as a consequence of Goa.”

He termed advisory reports by some countries and reports in the media an effort to project stray incidents as everyday occurrences, adding that Goa is one of the safest places in the world.

“But care should be taken that all places and people of tourist contact, namely, customs, police, hotel staff, etc should come across as friendly,” he added.

P Mara Pandiyan, Mormugao Port Trust, said, “Coordination between all those involved in tourism, namely, hospitality, travel agents, and other service providers is important as this will ensure an increase in potential.”

“The Mormugao port has recently been upgraded and now has a longer berth which was built at the cost of around 100 crore. This berth is capable of receiving a 360m ship or around 8,000 passengers,” he said.

Yashveer Singh, director, India Tourism, government of India, spoke about problems plaguing the industry, while managing director of GTDC Nikhil Desai and chairman of the de Souza Group Ralph de Souza also made presentations.

src: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-03/goa/32522701_1_cruise-tourism-india-tourism-ships