Cruising fastest growing segment of the tourism sector: Cruise operators

Cruising has been the fastest growing holiday segment of the world for the last ten years and inspite the recession the industry was still doing well, a top official of a cruise operating company said.

"Internationally cruising is the only industry which has maintained fastest growth. About eight per cent for the last 15 years year-on-year it has been growing,' Oneil Khosa, managing director, Louis Cruises India, told reporters onboard cruise ship 'M V Aquamarine' yesterday.

Louis Cruises India, a subsidiary of the Louis Cruises, the World's fifth largest cruise operator, has launched its operations on the Kochi-Maldives-Kochi route, eyeing to woo the Indian middle class, offering ticket prices as low as Rs5,000.

Last year about 15 to 18 million people took cruising globally and inspite of recession the industry was still doing well, he said. Stating that Kochi was a natural choice for Louis Cruises not just because it had all potential for an emerging cruise hub, he said 'Kochi has all ingredients to be a cruise hub'.

The reason for choosing Kochi as the home port was because it lies on the international sea routes and it is also a tourism friendly state, he said.

I was told tourism is the largest industry in Kochi that speaks for itself that the state has tourism friendly mindset', he said.The company offers tourists three itineries -- Kochi-Maldives-Kochi, Kochi-Colombo-Kochi and one night cruise on the high seas, Khosa said adding the demand was high for one-night cruises, and booking had been full for Christmas and New Year Day.

Khosa said a family of four would require to spend about Rs1.5 lakh if they want to go to Maldives now by air, but if they sail in the cruise they would need to spend only Rs60,000 to Rs65,000, which would help them save over 50%.

'So far Maldives has been the domain of the rich because it is a very exclusive upscale destination for what it offers', he said, adding 'but through this service we have opened up this market for larger audiences because suddenly Maldives which was only aspirational has become within reach'.

Replying to a query whether they propose to introduce more cruise ships, he said 'This is the first season. We will see how it goes. It has to be economical and viable project. As per the market requirement we will decide on more ships'.

Nearly 40,000 to 45,000 travellers were expected to make use of the cruise services from Kochi and this would bring more economic activity besides new jobs for the local community, he said. He said the Kerala Government had been "very supportive" and pro-active in launching the cruise service.