Cruise lines drop anchor at India's west coast

After a long lull, cruise liner tourism in India is on the rise. The number of cruise lines touching Indian shores has seen an increase over the last couple of years.

In Mumbai, the mecca of cruise tourism in India, the number of ships that will sail this season has almost doubled. For the tourist season of 2016-17, 59 ships will berth at International Cruise Terminal at Ballard Pier. Last year, only 37 ships with international tourists had sailed in and the year prior to that (2014-15) saw a total of 40 cruise liners sailing in. Next year, the target is to cross a minimum of 80 ships.

The recent changes in policy seem to have helped the industry. Earlier this year, the Mumbai Port Trust eased rules to make the city attractive by proposing to get it included in the itinerary of international operators. "For the first time this year, a cruise liner will make Mumbai a home port. Our target for this tourism season (October-May) is 65,000 passengers, next year's target is a lakh of them. This will boost tourism in Mumbai as well as improve local business and bring in foreign exchange, which will be an overall economic boost," says Sanjay Bhatia, chairman of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT).

Among the first few measures taken to make conditions conducive for cruise tourism, the port authorities did away with 'ousting charges'. The cruise operators had to pay this levy if a merchant vessel had to shift berth in order to make room for a cruise ship. Secondly, the liners are being given priority over cargo ships.

"Mumbai is the main port city. If a ship comes here, it will sail to other coastal cities on the western coast," says Gautam Dey, senior deputy traffic manager & business development, MbPT.

The other cities include Kochi, Goa and Mangalore. Initiatives have been taken to discuss and eventually link Mumbai port with Goa and Cochin ports for giving a fillip to tourism.

Another industry insider shared that an average of 500 passengers per cruise ship utilise Mumbai as a transit destination. This means that more the number of ships, the more tourists Mumbai or India will get. The added advantage of Mumbai is its thriving international airport having direct flights to across the world. As there is a glaring mismatch in the quality of the terminals for air and ship, planning work has been initiated to revamp and expand Mumbai's cruise liner terminal at Ballard Pier.

At present, the passenger terminal is spread over 3,500-4,000 square metres, which will be increased to around 20,000 sq. mt. "Our plan is to make Mumbai cruise terminal even better than the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport," added Bhatia.

Kochi in Kerala is another major draw for foreign cruise lines. If one were to compare the data for last three years, the upcoming season has the highest numbers. In 2016-17, there will be 47 ships that will berth at Cochin Port as compared to 34 in 2015-16 and 40 in 2014-15.

"Time is getting riper now for tourism by luxury cruises. After Mumbai, Cochin is the largest port for tourism followed by Goa and New Mangalore," says Jimmy George, senior deputy traffic manager, Cochin Port Trust.

If the growth continues consistently, MbPT's plan to augment passenger terminal capacity will bear fruit or else it will be a white elephant in the larger project of Mumbai Port Land Development. There are plans to modernise the cruise terminal in the next two years, on the lines of the international airport.

India's eastern coast is yet to see any frenetic activity as far as cruising is concerned. Industry officials say that cruise lines can sail directly to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, among other destination in the East.
Industry officials said India is yet to catch up with China, which has reported fast growth in cruising.

Just half a decade ago, China's cruise tourism industry was at a nascent stage. But now, it has become the fastest growing market. In fact, it is projected that China will soon overtake the US to become world's leading cruise liner market.

"The US market has 20 million passengers annually, while Europe has 7-8 million passengers. Both these markets are not growing and just sustaining for Costa Cruises," said Kelvin Wong, vice president of Costa Cruises Asia Commercial. On the other hand, China is growing at a tremendous pace -- from 1.35 million passengers last year to 2.5 million this year.

Industry officials also point out that the stagnancy is because of Americans and Europeans having experienced cruise tourism and with least excitement left for it. In China, the high net worth individuals (HNIs) have reduced their spending on holidays, but there has been a growing middle class who are ready to spend on their vacation.

A similar strategy has been adopted by cruise ship operators for the Indian market and also to get more of foreigners to India by providing more of Indian shores on their itinerary. For the industry, India is a virgin territory with a big population base to make it as their next big market for the sector's growth.

Among those under the target group include medical practitioners to have their conferences on board, senior citizen groups, yoga camps, wedding groups, newly married couples, etc. "This segment is absolutely nascent, but the conditions are becoming better in India to operate," added Nalini Gupta, head - India operations, Costa Cruises.

What is the best way to go forward?

"In case if an operator wants high bookings in a short duration, there's a strategy. They just have to shoot a Bollywood movie on board and bookings will shoot up. It has been successfully tested in the past," says Valsa Nair-Singh, principal secretary, tourism, Maharashtra.

Can it, really?