Mumbai: Dreaming of a cruise vacation? If plans of the Maharashtra government materialise, people from the state need not look to destinations as grand as the Maldives, Singapore, or Dubai.
The Maharashtra government plans to tap rivers, creeks, reservoirs, and the sea within the state to roll out cruises by tapping the existing port infrastructure.
The Maharashtra tourism department has floated an expression of interest to scout for companies that could develop and operate cruises in Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has suggested some packages, mainly emphasising opening the pristine Konkan region for more tourism, also asking potential operators to suggest more routes.
While the Konkan region, mainly comprising the Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts, has several scenic destinations popular among domestic tourists, its tourism potential has not been as fully tapped as possible. Large parts of the region have poor roads, patchy Internet, and inadequate connectivity to the main cities, such as Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, or Nagpur.
“Maharashtra’s coastline stretches for over 720 kilometres along the Arabian Sea and offers a diverse mix of pristine beaches, historic forts, and beautiful fishing villages. The state holds immense potential for cruise tourism,” a tourism department official, who did not wish to be named, said.
“We are exploring multiple possibilities—having luxury cruises, day cruises, sunset cruises, facilitating official conferences, and even weddings on cruises in Maharashtra,” the official added.
Potential routes
Among the routes recommended by the state tourism department is an exclusive six or seven-day package for tourism along the Konkan coast—possibly touching Mumbai, Murud Janjira at Raigad, Ganpatipule at Ratnagiri, and Tarkarli at Sindhudurg.
The department has also suggested a three-day package where passengers can hop on and off at destinations for night stays.
Other than these, the government has asked applicants to frame a detailed project layout for operating the cruise service, with proposed routes, schedules, the ports it will use, the estimated time that every journey will take, and so on, besides the entertainment and dining options onboard, the type of vessel and capacity, among other features.
Companies interested in operating such cruises could conceptualise other excursions as part of the cruise experience. For instance, experiencing the villages of Maharashtra or local sightseeing tours.
The Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), the nodal agency responsible for developing and regulating all maritime activities in Maharashtra, will, for a fee, provide berthing facilities and passenger terminal facilities at existing ports.
While the responsibility of procuring and maintaining the cruise vessel and securing all necessary permissions to run cruises will lie with the operator, the MTDC will help provide all land-side amenities. These include cafes, washrooms, and connecting transportation for local tours within a particular destination.
The state government will also hold skill development programmes to train local communities and other stakeholders to enhance the cruise tourism ecosystem in Maharashtra.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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