The much-awaited cruise tourism would start in March from Visakhapatnam as a cruise tourism company had accorded MoU with the cooperation of state and central governments.
The company would run services to Chennai to Singapore via Vizag, Vizag-Chennai-Sri Lanka, and also services to Maldives.
Besides, efforts are on to run services to Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia with an investment of 1200 crore.
It is recalled that the Vizag Port had already constructed 100 crore Vizag International Cruise Terminal (VICT) at the channel berth in the outer harbour in the port and it was inaugurated by the Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on September 5 of last year. VICT is the first cruise terminal on the east coast from West Bengal to AP. It can accommodate big vessels like Panama vessels of 50,000 to one lakh DWT.
Cruises that can carry 2000 to 2500 passengers can berth in Vizag’s 330-meter-long cruise berth. The VICT has a terminal building with a passenger lounge, customs, immigration, recreation area, restrooms, duty-free shops, and currency exchange counters.
The Vizag Port Chairman Dr. A Angamuthu said that an MoU was accorded by the Littoral Cruise Limited company and the terminal would be operational by March. He added that there are plans to run cruise services to Andaman, South Asian countries, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. “We have plans for a tourist circuit linking Chennai, Puri, and Kolkata.
The chairman Angamuthu said that Vizag would get a proper place on the world tourism map with cruise tourism. The city has scope to draw more attention of the international tourists once the cruise tourism takes place, he hoped.