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Mumbai Port Trust data: Cruise tourism rises 78% in four years
In the past four years, there has been a 78% rise in cruise traffic in the country, revealed the latest data. According to the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), from 128
In the past four years, there has been a 78% rise in cruise traffic in the country, revealed the latest data. According to the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), from 128 cruise callings in 2015-16 that catered to 1.25 lakh passengers, India’s five major ports are now looking at 593 cruise callings in 2019-20, catering to 4.18 lakh passengers.
In Mumbai, 40 cruise ships catered to 37,820 passengers in 2015-16 and the number has now increased to 259 cruise ships catering to 1.8 lakh passengers. The other major ports include Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore and Mormugoa.
“The target is to achieve 1,000 ship callings in the next five years and 2,000 in the next 10 years. We are looking at catering to one million cruise passengers per annum in the next five years,” said Sanjay Bhatia, chairman, MbPT and Indian Ports Association.
Bhatia was addressing the media at the commencement of the 4th India sailing season of Costa cruises. Costa Victoria ship with a capacity of 2,400 passengers arrived in the city on Friday. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union minister of state for shipping, who was present at the event said that the government looked at various measures to ease cruise tourism .
