Government lays out plan to promote cruise tourism in India

The Union Government is now planning to develop terminals at major ports to promote tourism. With this move, it is expected that cruise tourism will gain some traction.
A single entity will be given the responsibility for executing the contracts of maintenance and operations of cruise terminals. Primarily, cruise terminals at 4 to 5 ports will be maintained and operated by one player. The contracts will be executed by the Ministry of Shipping after consulting with the major port authorities and state maritime boards.

A top official from the Shipping Ministry said, “The first tender is expected to be executed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the O&M tender would include JNPT, Kochi, Kandla and Mangalore Port.”
As per the reports, Mumbai port will be developed as home port, and ports in New Mangalore, Goa and Chennai will be ports of call where ships will be scheduled to come in the morning and leave during evening. The Shipping Ministry official also informed that the terminals will be developed by the government and tenders on O&M contracts to international players who will be maintaining those ports for some duration of time.

The decision to award such contracts came after the government announced a slew of reforms in July last year. The reforms were suggested to bring about a change in the industry, which has the potential to generate employment.

Reportedly, the reforms have been set up on the basis of recommendations of a global consultant, which was engaged by Shipping Ministry. And the ministry plans to draw up an action plan to offer hassle-free and customer-friendly logistics process for promoting cruise tourism industry.