Meetings, summits planned to make cruise tourism sail

Cruises have been a part of many celluloid narratives. From movies like Dodsworth to Speed 2 and Poseidon, cruise tourism has grown in stature and value globally. While less than 0.15 million Indians opted for it as a form of leisure travel compared to over 20 million tourists globally last year, cruise tourism in the country may get some fillip in the months to come.

For instance, a high-level meeting of the Bureau of Immigration (BoI), Customs, Ministry of Shipping (MoS) and Ministry of Tourism (MoT) is likely soon in the national capital to deliberate on steps to popularise cruise tourism, according to documents reviewed by Business Standard.

Also, Royal Caribbean, one of the largest cruise lines in the world, is organising a seminar on cruise tourism. Quantum of the Seas (QOTS), the third largest cruise ship in the world, will dock at Cochin port on June 4-5, en route to Singapore and Shanghai.

The seminar on QOTS in June will involve officials from several government agencies. Other cruise lines like AIDA, TUI, Costa Cruise, etc are also learnt to be keen on participating in the seminar.

"Our immigration, customs and CISF procedures need to drastically improve if we are to encourage cruise tourism. With conditions in Sri Lanka stabilising, it poses serious threat to India's chances," according to the government document.

Cruises are one of the most cost-effective and secure means of leisure travel, according to Ratna Chadha, Indian representative of Royal Caribbean Cruise Limited, and CEO of Tirun Travel Marketing. "With costs of around $150-$200 per person per day, it factors in everything that you can think of - food, travel, entertainment, security everything. However, the government's apathetic policy formulations and a lack of sustained focus from our own industry have worsened cruise tourism's prospects," Chadha said.

In fact, a concept note on Sagar Mala project developed by the Indian Ports Association (IPA) in 2014 stresses that India has huge cruise tourism potential. It, however, points that major infrastructural change, cruise cells for seamless inter-agency integration, on-board and on-shore facilitations and extensive brand building are needed to realise that potential.

Sagar Mala project translates to a vision of enabling a string of ports around India's coastline. "Even with infrastructure in place, there are major immigration and customs-related procedural hassles that still persist. That is something which needs to be sorted,” said a port chairman.

Cruise tourism in the country has grown over the last five years, but at a slow pace. This is in spite of India's expansive coastline, strategic port locations and abundant tourist spots. A Cruise Shipping Policy by the Ministry of Shipping was approved by the government of India in 2008. It set out to make India an attractive cruise tourism destination with state-of-the-art infrastructure and other facilities in various parts of the country. The objective was "to attract the right segment of the foreign tourists to cruise shipping in India," according to the policy. But, nothing has changed since then, according to Chadha of Royal Caribbean.

The government had initiated the 'Collective Landing Permit' for Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India. It entailed an application by FTAs 72 hours in advance, in groups of four or more, arriving by air or sea, sponsored by Indian travel agencies approved by the ministry of tourism and with a pre-approved itinerary. The proposal was to start with 10 seaports and 9 airports in the country and then expanding to include all. However, it was mired in institutional inertia. The simplified version of the above made it to the recently launched E-visa at airports. "All that is required for implementation is administrative fiat. Shortage of staff, space and money are precluding it from being operational," a former official of the ministry of tourism said.