Costa Serena aims to handle 45,000 passengers from November to January

Costa Serena, the first foreign cruise liner to have domestic sailing in India, expects to ferry around 40,000 to 45,000 passengers from November 2023 to January next year with a load factor of 60 to 70 per cent, said Costa Cruises' India GSA, Nalini Udai Gupta.

“We are expecting 40,000-45,000 passengers until January 2024 because we have short sailings, such as two or three nights. India’s domestic sailing bookings are easy to sell as there are no hassles such as a visa, passport, among other things,” Gupta said.

She added that the load factor on the cruise might go higher as India is a ‘late-booking market’.

“There are people who will book a day before. As a result, one needs to have the infrastructure and the set-up to handle those late bookings or a late demand,” she said.

Gupta explained the company has seen bookings from young, middle-class families.

“We see a demand from families. We’re seeing (bookings) from a lot of young families. It is kind of a situation also because Costa allows children below 18 years with a lot of discounts. As a result, this is a family-friendly product,” she added.

The 300-metre vessel, which has a capacity of 3,780 passengers, is looking to sail with middle-class, young Indian families at a starting price point of Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per person, per night.

As passengers opt for higher room categories on the cruise, the price per person, per night will touch as high as Rs 50,000.

Costa Serena will sail between domestic destinations such as Mumbai, Cochin, Goa, and Lakshadweep. The vessel has restaurants, spas, cafes, a theatre area, music, among other activities.

“Cruising works for us because Indians can’t just be sitting and doing nothing. They need excitement. On our ship, we not only have Indian food, but we also have entertainment. There is Western and Indian entertainment,” Gupta added.

Gupta added that India is an untapped market for domestic cruises.

“The market is very large, and every cruise liner coming to the country will help the cruise industry. In 2012, India had 0.1 million passengers out of the global 25 million, which was less than half-a-per cent. Today, the Indian number is pegged at 0.4 million, but the size of the industry is 32 million,” she said.

Last week, the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, flagged off the vessel’s maiden domestic sailing and said the government had undertaken initiatives to promote the industry of cruise tourism in the country.

Sonowal had said that the government has offered conditional Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) exemption to foreign flag-foreign going vessels when it converts to coastal run, so that it reduces the financial burden on foreign cruise operators.

“If the five per cent GST on the vessel was not waived, it would have cost crores of rupees. The very fact that it has been waived now, many cruise liners will look at India. The government is supportive towards the industry,” Gupta said.

Among other incentives, the government said there are guaranteed berths to cruise ships, removal of ousting charges, concessional uniform single rate for all major ports, volume discounts in cruise tariff up to 30 per cent for domestic cruise ships, waiver of cabotage for foreign cruise vessels, uniform standard operating procedures (SOPs) for customs, immigration, CISF, ports, upgradation and modernisation of cruise terminals with enhanced passenger facilities, to promote cruise operations in the country.

Over the past ten years, cruise ship calls and the total number of passengers handled has increased to 227 calls and 4.72 lakh passengers in 2022-23 from 102 calls and 84,000 passengers in 2013-14, according to the data shared by the Shipping Ministry.

The government plans to increase the annual number of cruise passengers in India to 1.8 million passengers by 2030.

As per the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 in the Global Maritime India Summit 2023 in Mumbai, it is projected that India will have 25 operational cruise terminals by 2047, with an estimated annual passenger count of approximately 5 million cruise passengers annually, the government said.

The Centre aims to establish India as the premier cruise hub in the Asia Pacific region.

"To achieve this goal, significant steps are being taken, including the development of state-of-the-art cruise terminals, the implementation of standardised procedures, and the introduction of e-visa facilities, among other measures," Minister Sonowal said.