Describing the Cruise Tourism as a game changer for both domestic and international travellers, Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday expressed confidence that the Cruise Tourism had the huge potential to boost economy.
Inaugurating an event ‘The Dawn of Cruise tourism in India’ in Mumbai, Gadkari highlighted the huge potential for Cruise Tourism, particularly in view of the reforms undertaken by his Ministry under the Sagarmala Project.
Gadkari, who released reports on “Road map for Sea Cruise Tourism”, “Mumbai Port SOP for Cruise Operations” and “Cruise terminals in India”, the cruise initiative had a potential revenue close to Rs 35,000 crore for all stakeholders.
The Minister said that the promotion of Cruise Tourism was expected to create over 2,50,000 jobs and with this new initiative, the number of cruise ships visiting India could go up from 158 per year to 955 per year. He also called for greater transparency, lesser red tape-ism, result oriented time bound target completion.
Gadkari said that the Ministry was toying with the idea of using Methanol as marine fuel so as to bring down cost of operations and promote eco-friendly mode of transportation. “Technology up-gradation, coupled with reduction in human interface with increased automation, was necessary for smoother and effective service delivery,” he said.
David Dingle, Chairman, Carnival, UK – the biggest cruise line in the world that has started home port operations from Mumbai Port, presented Carnival’s plans for India.
While Ravi Kant, Secretary to GoI, Ministry of Shipping highlighted India’s development initiatives for Cruise Tourism, Rashmi Verma, Secretary to GoI, Ministry of Tourism, spoke on the growth and future of India as an International tourism hub. Maharashtra Minister for Tourism J Rawal, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant and Maharashtra’s chief secretary Sumit Mullick were among those present at the function.