Tourists can soon take a sortie by sea plane

Tourists flocking to the Andaman and Nicobar islands can soon avail of a new facility by which they can take a sortie by an aircraft to witness the exotic locations and pristine natural beauty, with the Union Territory all set to launch a "Sea Plane".

The first "Sea Plane" will soon be purchased and deployed on an experimental basis in two months time, Andaman and Nicoblar Islands government chief secretary Vivek Rae told a group of journalists while unveiling tourist development plans for the islands.

Two firms based in Dubai and Mumbai have been shortlisted for the supply of the plane, which would be hired on "wet lease" for six months, Rae said.

"The charges would be fixed depending upon the duration of the sortie. If the venture becomes successful, we will continue it and even expand it. Otherwise, it would have to be discontinued",Rae said, pointing to the involvement of subsidy outflow from government during initial stages of operation.

Seeking to market Andaman as an attractive tourist destination, the government has given thrust to promotion of Scuba Diving, for which it has abundant potential, he said adding "scuba diving is one of our USP in the new tourism policy being announced on January four, 2010".

"During this December we are launching Rs100 crore projects aimed at tourism promotion", he said.

"Andaman is a better diving destination. We will develop it as one of the high end tourist activity.We have lot of areas like Cinque Island, Fish Rock, Bala Reef,and Corruption Rock near South Andaman for scuba diving". Rae said locations near to Havelock Island such as Mac point, Aquarium, Barracuda city, Turtle bay also fit the bill for diving activity.

Rae, who has been working on the tourism development project in these eco-sensitive islands to promote its economic development, however, said government would not encourage non-serious players in the diving industry. The government is working on forming regulations to govern this adventure water sport to ensure safety of divers, he said.

The Andaman and Nicobar Island government is working with Planet Scuba, a leading diving institute, which has a diving facility at Port Blair for promoting diving sports.

Planet Scuba India Pvt Ltd managing director Madhava Reddy said diving is a $46 billion industry worldwide.

Rae said the government will also get assistance from Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), an apex body that trains professional diving instructors to evolve regulations to govern the sport and safety norms.

Environment concerns and with majority of land falling under forest zone, development of tourism infrastructure in the absence of required revenue land has been an uphill task. Despite these hurdles, efforts are being made to give impetus to infrastructure development and Taj group will be setting up a seven star eco-friendly hotel at Havelock.

It will initially be a 50-room hotel and later expanded to 200 rooms, he said.

The tourist flow  has been on the rise over the years and upto October this year, 1.07 lakh including 10,556 foreigners have visited the islands,he said.