Government plans to promote cruise tourism

In a move to promote cruise tourism substantially, the Union Government has planned to develop terminals at major ports. The government plans to make a single company in charge of executing the contracts of maintenance and operations of cruise terminals. The cruise terminals at 4-5 ports will be maintained and operated by one company. The contracts will be implemented by the Ministry of Shipping after discussing with the major port authorities and state naval boards.

Reports suggest that Mumbai port will be set as the as home port. The ports in New Mangalore, Goa and Chennai will be ports of call where ships will be scheduled to come at morning and leave by evening. The first tender is expected to be implemented by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, and the O&M tender would include Kochi, Kandla, JNPT and Mangalore Port.

As per reports, the plans have been made based on the commendation of a global consultant appointed by Shipping Ministry. The ministry expects that the implementation of these plans will result in customer friendly and hassle-free logistics, thereby resulting in promotion of cruise tourism industry.