Dissertation Project
Dissertation Project
DISSERTATION REPORT
ON
SUBMITTED BY
KUMAR SINGH
UNIVERSITY
1
CERTIFICATION BY THE GUIDE.
Date: (GUIDE)
2
CERTIFICATION BY THE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT.
With Reg. No. 17MTTM1132 is original work done by him in the DEPARTMENT
OF TOURISM ADMINISTRATION, GARDEN CITY UNIVERSITY,
3
CERTIFICATION BY THE REGISTRAR.
Date: (Registrar)
4
DECLARATION
The Dissertation Report has not formed a part of the award of any other
Degree/ Diploma/ Fellowship or any similar title from any other University or
Organization or published anywhere else.
5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First I would like to thank the God Almighty who is always with me in all my
efforts.
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A
DISSERTATION REPORT
ON
SUBMITTED BY
PAGE
CHAPTERS CONTENT
NO
Introduction
History Of Tourism
1 Meaning Of Tourism
Significance Of Tourism 09 - 38
Types Of Tourism
Indian Tourism Significance
Impact Of Tourism
Cruise Tourism
Cruise Tourism In India
Indian Cruise Tourism Potential
Opportunity 39-69
2 Challanges
Nsature And Extent Of Cruise Tourisdm
3
Literature Reviwe 70 - 74
4 75 – 85
Data Analysis
5 86 – 87
Methodology
6 88 – 89
SWOT Analysis
7 90 – 93
Findings and suggestions
Conclusion 96
97
Bibliography
8
CHAPTER -I
9|Page
HISTORY OF TOURISM IN INDIA
Tourism in the early period the history of tourism developed mainly through indirect sources
in the early period. In India, in the early days of agricultural abundance, export of cash crops
created an important trade link. Manufacture of iron-ore into steel for weaponry was another
important item of trade by the later Vedic period. Tools and textiles were other renowned
Indian products. Contemporary Greek and Hebrew scholars have noted the wonder of India
and her fabled wealth. Owing to the predominance of trade routes over – land crossing
between Asia and Europe, trade tours were an important development in this period. In the
early days, pilgrimage or pilgrim travel assumed great importance. Asoka the great, travelled
a great deal in his eagerness to spread the doctrines of Buddha. Throughout his travels, from
Pataliputra to Lumbini on to Kapilavastu and Sarnath and finally to Gaya, Emperor Ashoka
had special memorials set up at each spot and also rest houses where travellers could rest.
Trees were planted along the road sides so that the traveller would be protected from the
harsh sun shine. Harsha was another great emperor who gently influenced by the Buddhist
scriptures, built institutions and Dharamsalas for the travellers. Rest houses were built in
towns and villages. A number of monasteries were also built for the pilgrims. This shows that
travel facilities were much improved and travel was not a cumbersome experience. 2
Brahmin villages evolved into centres of learning attracting scholars. At this time the
Buddhist Sanga established the tradition of pilgrimage, when monks went from village to
village and court preaching the value of the middle-path. Rest houses were provided for the
travellers. Monastries also attracted the monks, middlemen and laymen. The Arthashastra
reflects the protection given to merchants and their high status in the Indian society.
Insurance and safe passage for goods, regulation of prices, weights and measures and the use
of gold, silver and copper as rates of exchange also indicate a well developed mode of trade
and travel. Some of the first foreigners to visit India, were perhaps the Persians. There is
much evidence of caravans of Persians visiting India, in the inscriptions dating to the rein of
the Persians King Darius. There is also reference to trade, commerce and cultural exchanges
between Persia and India. During the rein of Chandragupta Maurya, Persian customs have
been practiced in the courts. Hieun-tsang, a devout Chinese Buddhist journeyed to India in
633 AD, his journey to India was hard and perilous. His mission was to collect and translate
ancient Buddhist scriptures. Several expeditions crossed from Greece via Persia or
Mesopotamia to India. Greek accounts reveal that in India, chariot roads were well laid out
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and horses, elephants and camels were a common mode of transport. Trees for shade, wells,
rest houses and security were also well organized. One of the most important developments
of this era owing to the emergence of trade and commerce was the emergence of
communication and accommodation. When Alexander the Great reached India, it is said that
he found good roads which were well maintained covered with shady trees. Marco Polo was
another great traveller who in the 13th century passed 3 through India on his way back from
China. All travellers were much interested in seeing India and her fabled riches for
themselves. This proves that India was a rich and prosperous country in those days. In the
works of Mark Twain, he had aptly put it as Of splendour and rags There is only one India
The one land that all men desire to see and having seen once by even a glimpse will not give
that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the world put together”. The Arthashastra also
reveals the importance of the travel infrastructure for the state, classification of routes and
types of vehicles. This is an indication that there was a well developed mode of travel in India
for the military, the commercial traveller and the civilian. Travel on inland waterways was
also under state protection and regulation. In cities, bazaars provided access to goods brought
from the hinterland. Travellers were accommodated in overnight places of stay, known as
series at the city gates where all services were provided to them. State regulations insisted on
travellers carrying with them a note for safe passage from one territory to the other.
Entertainment and dancing halls were allowed, gambling was licensed and was a source of
income for the state. Travelling for pleasure on the rivers and to the hills was a tradition
started by the royal courts. However such movement attracted all those who had business at
the court to move with it from the heat and dust of the cities to the calm and serenity of the
retreat. During the rule of the Mughals, the emperors travelled extensively and contributed
towards resort development. Even today the remains of the past like the mile stones, sarais
and a network of roads and paths that make all corners of this vast country accessible. 4 With
the fall of the great empires, there was a setback in trade and commerce. This reduced the
mobility of the people with the exception of pilgrims. The sea side resorts hill stations and
spas which were the centres of recreation and pleasure were hardly ever used by the early
medieval period. Over the years, however the scenario changed and a complex character of
tourism emerged. The growth of modern technology, rising incomes and improved facilities
contributed to the emergence of modern tourism. 5 Tourism in the modern period The Rail
network in India placed the needs for recreation within the reach of an increasingly large
number of people who had leisure time and the means to enjoy it. Air India came into
existence with the enactment of Air Corporations Act on 1st August 1963, when the entire air
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transport industry in India was nationalized. At the time of nationalization, Air India operated
four weekly flights on the India/UK route and three flights fort-nightly on the India/Nairobi
route. Today, it has an extended network of air routes linking all the five continents of the
globe. Air India organizes special programmers to give a wide publicity for projecting India.
Soon, Indian Airlines began, with a view to establishing an air transport network to link the
remotest places in India. Today, Indian Airlines has expanded its wings to nearby countries as
well. They have introduced many schemes and offers like the Discover India package. Leave
Travel Concessions encouraged domestic tourism. Concessions for the youth and students
also promoted travel within the country. In the early 1960’s The ITDC (India Tourism
Development Corporation) was started to provide western comforts to International visitors.
The ITDC played a major role as a catalyst in developing a modern superstructure (eg, The
Asoka group of hotels) for International tourists. The government set up infrastructure to
promote tourism by establishing Air India and tourism promotion offices in London and
Frankfurt. The tourism cell in the Ministry of Aviation was upgraded into a department. The
private sector was invited to establish luxury facilities for the high spending tourist. The first
pioneer in this field was Mohan Singh Oberon, who began his career in the hotel business
with the Clarks Hotel in Shimla and the Grand Hotel in Calcutta. 6 THE PROGRESS OF
TOURISM IN INDIA (Development through successive five year plans) Although India had
a good amount of tourism activity when it became independent over 50 years ago, tourism as
a subject did not figure in the Constitution of India, except that some of its components were
mentioned in the central or state lists. There was also no allocation for tourism development
during the First Five Year Plan. However, during the Second Five Year Plan (1956-61)
tourism became a constituent of the Planning process with a token allocation of Rs.3.36 cores
for both Central and State sectors put together. The development approach during the second
plan was mainly on creating isolated facilities in important tourist centres. The Third Plan
witnessed the beginning of an era for the development of activities connected with tourism,
particularly adventure tourism, by the establishment of a winter sports complex at Gulmarg in
Kashmir. The India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) was set up in 1966 to develop
tourism infrastructure and promote India as a tourist destination. The approach during the
Fourth and Fifth Plan was expansion and improvement of tourist facilities with a view to
promote ‘Destination traffic’ as distinct from transit traffic. Integrated development of
selected tourist centres like Kovalam, Gulmarg, Goa, Kullu-Manali etc., received much
attention and became the symbolic models of resort tourism in India Cultural Tourism was
emphasized with development of Buddhist Centres and heritage monuments in India through
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master plans. 7 The Sixth Plan (1980-85) was a major landmark in the history of Indian
Tourism. The first ever ‘Tourism Policy’ of the country was announced during 1982 which
specified the development objectives and provided an action plan based on ‘Travel Circuit’
concept to maximize the benefits of tourism. The development of tourism was stated as a plan
objective during the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90) and the sector was accorded the status
of an industry. It thus became the watershed plan for Indian tourism. The National Committee
on Tourism set up by the Govt. in 1986 to evaluate the economic and social relevance of
tourism in India and to draw up a long measure for ensuring accelerated growth of tourism.
On the basis of these recommendations a package of incentives were made available for
tourism industries and the Tourism Finance Corporation of India (T.F.C.I) was set up to
finance tourism projects. “The development Plan for tourism during the Eighth Plan (1992-
97) was based on the National Action Plan for tourism” presented in the Parliament on 5th
May, 1992. It proposed to achieve diversification of tourism product, accelerated growth of
tourism infrastructure, effective marketing and promotional efforts in the overseas markets
and removal of all impediments to tourism. A major component of the Action Plan was the
development of all inclusive ‘Special Tourism Areas’ and intensive development of selected
circuits. The Action Plan did not specify the infrastructural requirements and the investments
needed to meet the targets and source of funding for the same. ‘The Tourism Synergy
Programmer’ enlisting the activities and infrastructure components to be provided by various
agencies including the private sector and State Governments was thus prepared in 1993. It
was further modified and converted into a ‘National Strategy for the 8 Development of
Tourism’ during 1996. The documents were aimed at achieving greater realization of the
importance of tourism, a consensus on the developmental needs, positive contribution of all
the infrastructural departments on a coordinated manner, high plan allocations and
introduction of new schemes for accelerated development of tourism. The Department of
Tourism also constituted special Task Force for the promotion of Schemes/projects for the
development of Tourism in the North Eastern States, Sikkim, J& K, Arunachal Pradesh and
Hill districts of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, Senior Officers of the Department along with
representatives of respective State Governments and industry visited these areas and action
plans for North Eastern States, Jammu & Kashmir were prepared. In order to give boost to
foreign exchange earnings, employment and income generation through tourism activities,
Expert House status was granted to tourism units in the Ninth Five Year Plan. Govt. also
called for effective coordination of Public & Private efforts so as to achieve synergy in the
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development of tourism in India. in developing tourism, it was to be ensured that the sites are
conserved and the environment is not degraded.
MEANING OF TOURISM
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the
business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of
operating tours. Tourism may be international, or within the traveller’s country. The World
Tourism Organization defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the
common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people
"travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one
consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes".
Tourism can be domestic or international, and international tourism has both incoming and
outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments. Today, tourism is a major source
of income for many countries, and affects the economy of both the source and host countries,
in some cases being of vital importance.
Definitions
In 1936, the League of Nations defined a foreign tourist as "someone traveling abroad for at
least twenty-four hours". Its successor, the United Nations, amended this definition in 1945,
by including a maximum stay of six months.
In 1941, Hunziker and Kraft defined tourism as "the sum of the phenomena and relationships
arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, insofar as they do not lead to residence and
are not connected with any earning activity. In 1976, the Tourism Society of England's
definition was: "Tourism is the temporary, short-term movement of people
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to destinations outside the places where they normally live and work and their activities
during the stay at each destination. It includes movements for all purposes. In 1981, the
In 1994, the United Nations identified three forms of tourism in its Recommendations on
Tourism Statistics:
• Domestic tourism, involving residents of the given country travelling only within this
country
The terms tourism and travel are sometimes used interchangeably. In this context, travel has a
similar definition to tourism, but implies a more purposeful journey. The
terms tourism and tourist are sometimes used pejoratively, to imply a shallow interest in the
cultures or locations visited. By contrast, traveller is often used as a sign of distinction. The
sociology of tourism has studied the cultural values underpinning these distinctions and their
implications for class relations.
Significance of Tourism
Tourism has become an important, even vital, source of income for many regions and even
entire countries. The Manila Declaration on World Tourism of 1980 recognized its
importance as "an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the
social, cultural, educational, and economic sectors of national societies and on their
international relations."
Tourism brings large amounts of income into a local economy in the form of payment
for goods and services needed by tourists, accounting as of 2011 for 30% of the
world's trade in services, and for 6% of overall exports of goods and services It also generates
opportunities for employment in the service sector of the economy associated with tourism.
The hospitality industries which benefit from tourism include transportation services (such
as airlines, cruise ships, trains and taxicabs); hospitality services (such as accommodations,
including hotels and resorts); and entertainment venues (such as amusement
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Parks, restaurants, casinos, shopping malls, music venues, and theatres). This is in addition to
goods bought by tourists, including souvenirs.
On the flip-side, tourism can degrade people and sour relationships between host and guest
TYPES OF TOURISM
Mass tourism
Academics have defined mass tourism as travel by groups on pre-scheduled tours, usually
under the organization of tourism professionals. This form of tourism developed during the
second half of the 19th century in the United Kingdom and was pioneered by Thomas Cook.
Cook took advantage of Europe's rapidly expanding railway network and established a
company that offered affordable day trip excursions to the masses, in addition to longer
holidays to Continental Europe, India, Asia and the Western Hemisphere which attracted
wealthier customers. By the 1890s over 20,000 tourists per year used Thomas Cook
HYPERLINK "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cook_%26_Son"&HYPERLINK
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cook_%26_Son" Son.
The relationship between tourism companies, transportation operators and hotels is a central
feature of mass tourism. Cook was able to offer prices that were below the publicly
advertised price because his company purchased large numbers of tickets from railroads. One
contemporary form of mass tourism, package tourism, still incorporates the partnership
between these three groups.
Travel developed during the early 20th century and was facilitated by the development of the
automobiles and later by airplanes. Improvements in transport allowed many people to travel
quickly to places of leisure interest, so that more people could begin to enjoy the benefits of
leisure time.
By the mid-20th century the Mediterranean Coast became the principal mass tourism
destination. The 1960s and 1970s saw mass tourism play a major role in the Spanish
economic "miracle".
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Winter tourism
St. Moritz, Switzerland became the cradle of the developing winter tourism in the 1860s:
hotel manager Johannes Badrutt invited some summer guests from England to return in the
winter to see the snowy landscape, thereby inaugurating a popular trend. It was, however,
only in the 1970s when winter tourism took over the lead from summer tourism in many of
the Swiss ski resorts. Even in winter, up to one third of all guests (depending on the location)
consist of non-skiers.
Major ski resorts are located mostly in the various European countries
(e.g. Andorra, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech
Republic, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Slovaki
a, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey), Canada, the United States (e.g. Montana, Utah,
Colorado, California, Wyoming, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York) Argentina, New
Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Chile, and Lebanon.
Some places that already have ski opportunities can also have glaciers in the area. Some of
these places already offer a glacier hike to see the glaciers in another way that they can. One
of these places are New Zealand. New Zealand has several glaciers that are available for this
experience. The Franz Josef is one of these glaciers that tourism is available. The only way to
get to the glacier is via a helicopter. Before helicopters were invented the way that people
were able to get up to the glacier was by hiking up to the glacier. The companies have to
make sure that people are safe from when they are on the glacier. This would fall under
environmental tourism as well as winter tourism
Sustainable tourism
Sustainable development implies "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (World Commission on Environment
and Development, 1987)
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An important part of sustainable tourism is something known as the three pillars of
sustainability which include Economic, Environmental/Ecological and Socio-cultural. For a
destination to be truly sustainable it must have an equal balance which the three pillars.
Economic is in relation to money and making and maintaining a certain amount of cash.
Environmental is of course in relation to the environment it looks into whether the local
ecosystems can support the influx of visitors and also how these visitors effect the ecosystem.
Then finally Socio-cultural is about how well the culture of this area is able to maintain its
traditions with the incoming tourists. These pillars are important because they are the true key
to being sustainable when discussing tourism.
Sustainable tourism can be seen as having regard to ecological and social-cultural carrying
capacities and includes involving the community of the destination in tourism development
planning (that was done e.g. in Fruška Gora National Park in Serbia). It also involves
integrating tourism to match current economic and growth policies so as to mitigate some of
the negative economic and social impacts of 'mass tourism'. Murphy (1985) advocates the use
of an 'ecological approach', to consider both 'plants' and 'people' when implementing the
sustainable tourism development process. This is in contrast to the 'boosterish' and 'economic'
approaches to tourism planning, neither of which considers the detrimental ecological or
sociological impacts of tourism development to a destination.
However, Butler questions the exposition of the term 'sustainable' in the context of tourism,
citing its ambiguity and stating that "the emerging sustainable development philosophy of the
1990s can be viewed as an extension of the broader realization that a preoccupation with
economic growth without regard to its social and environmental consequences is self-
defeating in the long term." Thus 'sustainable tourism development' is seldom considered as
an autonomous function of economic regeneration as separate from general economic growth.
Ecotourism
Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and
usually protected areas that strives to be low-impact and (often) small-scale. It helps educate
the traveller; provides funds for conservation; directly benefits the economic development
and political empowerment of local communities; and fosters respect for different cultures
and for human rights. Take only memories and leave only a footprint is a very common
slogan in protected areas. Tourist destinations are shifting to low carbon emissions following
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the trend of visitors more focused in being environmentally responsible adopting a
sustainable behaviour.
Pro-poor tourism
Pro-poor tourism, which seeks to help the poorest people in developing countries, has been
receiving increasing attention by those involved in development; the issue has been addressed
through small-scale projects in local communities and through attempts by Ministries of
Tourism to attract large numbers of tourists. Research by the Overseas Development
Institute suggests that neither is the best way to encourage tourists' money to reach the
poorest as only 25% or less (far less in some cases) ever reaches the poor; successful
examples of money reaching the poor include mountain-climbing in Tanzania and cultural
tourism in Luang Prabang, Laos. There is also the possibility of pro-poor tourism principles
being adopted in centre sites of regeneration in the developed world.
Medical tourism
When there is a significant price difference between countries for a given medical procedure,
particularly in Southeast Asia, India, Eastern Europe, Cuba and Canada where there are
different regulatory regimes, in relation to particular medical procedures (e.g. dentistry),
travelling to take advantage of the price or regulatory differences is often referred to as
"medical tourism".
Educational tourism
Educational tourism is developed because of the growing popularity of teaching and learning
of knowledge and the enhancing of technical competency outside of classroom environment.
In educational wildlife tourism is an element of many nations' travel industry centered around
observation and interaction with local animal and plant life in their natural habitats. While it
can include eco- and animal-friendly tourism, safari hunting and similar high-intervention
activities also fall under the umbrella of wildlife tourism. Wildlife tourism, in its simplest
sense, is interacting with wild animals in their natural habitat, either by actively (e.g.
hunting/collection) or passively (e.g. watching/photography). Wildlife tourism is an
important part of the tourism industries in many countries including many African and South
American countries, Australia, India, Canada, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka
and Maldives among many. It has experienced a dramatic and rapid growth in recent years
worldwide and many elements are closely aligned to tourism and sustainable tourism., the
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main focus of the tour or leisure activity includes visiting another country to learn about the
culture, study tours, or to work and apply skills learned inside the classroom in a different
environment, such as in the International Practicum Training Program.
Religious tourism
Religious tourism, in particular religious travel, is used to strengthen faith and show devotion
both of which are central tenets of many major religions. Religious tourists seek destinations
whose image encourages them to believe that they can strengthen the religious elements of
their self-identity in a positive manner. Given this, the perceived image of a destination may
be positively influenced by whether it conforms to the requirements of their religious self-
identity or not.
Virtual tour
The phrase "virtual tour" is often used to describe a variety of videos and photographic-based
media. Panorama indicates an unbroken view, since a panorama can be either a series of
photographs or panning video footage. However, the phrases "panoramic tour" and "virtual
tour" have mostly been associated with virtual tours created using still cameras. Such virtual
tours are made up of a number of shots taken from a single vantage point. The camera and
lens are rotated around what is referred to as a no parallax point (the exact point at the back
of the lens where the light converges).
A video tour is a full motion video of a location. Unlike the virtual tour's static wrap-around
feel, a video tour is a linear walk-through of a location. Using a video camera, the location is
filmed at a walking pace while moving continuously from one point to another throughout the
subject location.
Wildlife tourism
Wildlife tourism is an element of many nations' travel industry centered around observation
and interaction with local animal and plant life in their natural habitats. While it can
include eco- and animal-friendly tourism, safari hunting and similar high-intervention
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activities also fall under the umbrella of wildlife tourism. Wildlife tourism, in its simplest
sense, is interacting with wild animals in their natural habitat, either by actively (e.g.
hunting/collection) or passively (e.g. watching/photography). Wildlife tourism is an
important part of the tourism industries in many countries including many African and South
American countries, Australia, India, Canada, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka
and Maldives among many. It has experienced a dramatic and rapid growth in recent years
worldwide and many elements are closely aligned to tourism and sustainable tourism. As a
multimillion-dollar international industry, wildlife tourism is often characterized by the
offering of customized tour packages and safaris to allow close access to wildlife.
Heritage tourism
Cultural heritage tourism (or just heritage tourism or Diaspora tourism) is a branch
of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism is occurring.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States defines heritage tourism as
"travelling to experience the places, artefacts and activities that authentically represent the
stories and people of the past", and "heritage tourism can include cultural, historic and natural
resources".
Medical tourism
Medical tourism refers to people travelling to a country other than their own to obtain
medical treatment. In the past this usually referred to those who travelled from less-developed
countries to major medical centres in highly developed countries for treatment unavailable at
home. However, in recent years it may equally refer to those from developed countries who
travel to developing countries for lower priced medical treatments. The motivation may be
also for medical services unavailable or illegal in the home country.
Medical tourism most often is for surgeries (cosmetic or otherwise) or similar treatments,
though people also travel for dental tourism or fertility tourism. People with rare conditions
may travel to countries where the treatment is better understood. However, almost all types of
health care are available, including psychiatry, alternative medicine, convalescent care, and
even burial services.
Health tourism is a wider term for travel that focus on medical treatments and the use of
healthcare services. It covers a wide field of health-oriented, tourism ranging from preventive
and health-conductive treatment to rehabilitation and curative forms of travel. Wellness
tourism is a related field.
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Dark tourism
Dark tourism (also black tourism or grief tourism) has been defined as tourism involving
travel to places historically associated with death and tragedy. More recently, it was
suggested that the concept should also include reasons tourists visit that site, since the site's
attributes alone may not make a visitor a "dark tourist".Thanatourism, derived from the
ancient Greek word khanates for the personification of death, refers more specifically to
Peaceful death; it is used in fewer contexts than the terms dark tourism and grief tourism. The
main attraction to dark locations is their historical value rather than their associations with
death and suffering.
LGBT tourism
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. They are usually open about
their sexual orientation and gender identity but may be more or less open when travelling; for
instance they may be closeted at home or if they have come out, may be more discreet in
areas known for violence against LGBT people.
The main components of LGBT tourism is for destinations, accommodations and travel
services wishing to attract LGBT tourists; people looking to travel to LGBT-
friendly destinations; people wanting travel with other LGBT people when travelling
regardless of the destination and LGBT travellers who are mainly concerned with cultural
and safety issues.] The slang term gyration has come to imply a version of a vacation that
includes a pronounced aspect of LGBT culture, either in the journey or destination. The
LGBT tourism industry includes destinations (tourism offices and CVBs), travel agents,
accommodations and hotel groups, tour companies, cruise lines and travel advertising and
promotions companies who market these destinations to the gay community. Coinciding with
the increased visibility of LGBT people raising children in the 1990s, an increase in family-
friendly LGBT tourism has emerged in the 2000s, for instance R Family Vacations which
includes activities and entertainment geared towards couples including same-sex weddings. R
Family's first cruise was held aboard Lines’ Norwegian Dawn with 1600 passengers
including 600 children.
Major companies in the travel industry have become aware of the substantial money (also
known as the "pink dollar" or "pink pound") generated by this marketing niche, and have
made it a point to align themselves with the gay community and gay tourism
campaigns. According to a 2000 Travel University report, 10% of international tourists were
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gay and lesbian accounting for more than 70 million arrivals worldwide. This market segment
is expected to continue to grow as a result of ongoing acceptance of LGBT people and
changing attitudes towards sexual and gender minorities. Outside larger companies, LGBT
tourists are offered other traditional tourism tools, such as hospitality networks of LGBT
individuals who offer each other hospitality during their travels and even home swaps where
people live in each other's homes. Also available worldwide are social groups for resident and
visiting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender expatriates and friends.
Developing infrastructure
Tourism tends to encourage the development of multiple-use infrastructure that benefits the
host community, including various means of transports, health care facilities, and sports
centres, in addition to the hotels and high-end restaurants that cater to foreign visitors. The
development of infrastructure has in turn induced the development of other directly
productive activities.
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billion in 2008 and that is expected to increase to US$275.5 billion by 2018 at a 9.4% annual
growth rate.
The Indian tourism sector has been flourishing in recent years due to improved connectivity
to and from the country. Also, a better lodging facility at the tourist destinations has been a
factor which has contributes to increase Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA). The most alarming
as well as astonishing trend is that India has not been among the top ten tourism destinations
in the world. As a result, there has been slow growth in the tourist arrivals in India which is
demonstrate by Figure 1. In 2010 India attracted 5.8 million tourists and this figure went up
to a level of 7.4 million in 2014.
IMPACTS ON TOURISM
The study of the effect that tourism has on environment and communities involved is
relatively new. Impacts are not easily categorized, having direct and indirect
components. Also tourism is often seasonal, and impacts only become apparent after time,
with varying effects, and at different stages of development. There are three main categories.
1. Environmental impacts: impacts that affect the carrying capacity of the area, vegetation, air
quality, bodies of water, the water table, wildlife, and natural phenomena.
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alternatively, contribute to the preservation of culture and cultural sites through increased
resources.
Environmental impacts
Ecotourism, nature tourism, wildlife tourism, and adventure tourism take place in
environments such as rain forests, high alpine, wilderness, lakes and rivers, coastlines and
marine environments, as well as rural villages and coastline resorts. Peoples' desire for more
authentic and challenging experiences results in their destinations becoming more remote, to
the few remaining pristine and natural environments left on the planet. The positive impact of
this can be an increased awareness of environmental stewardship.[5] The negative impact can
be a destruction of the very experience that people are seeking. There are direct and indirect
impacts, immediate and long-term impacts, and there are impacts that are both proximal and
distal to the tourist destination. These impacts can be separated into three categories: facility
impacts, tourist activities, and the transit effect.
Facility impacts
Facility impacts occur when a regional area evolves from "exploration" to "involvement" and
then into the "development" stage of the tourist area life cycle. During the latter phase there
can be both direct and indirect environmental impacts through the construction
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of superstructure such as hotels, restaurants, and shops, and infrastructure such as roads and
power supply. As the destination develops, more tourists seek out the experience. Their
impacts increase accordingly. The requirement for water for washing, waste disposal, and
drinking increases. Rivers can be altered, excessively extracted, and polluted by the demands
of tourists. Noise pollution has the capacity to disturb wildlife and alter behaviour, and light
pollution can disrupt the feeding
And reproductive behaviour of many creatures. When power is supplied by diesel or gasoline
generators there is additional noise and pollution. General waste and garbage are also a result
of the facilities. As more tourists arrive there is an increase in food and beverages consumed,
which in turn creates waste plastic and non-biodegradable products
Tourist activities
For many tourists the main reason for their vacation is to engage in various types of physical
activities, and enjoy interacting with nature in a way that they would not ordinarily be able to
do. These activities, such as hiking, trekking, kayaking, bird watching,
Wildlife safaris, surfing, snorkelling, and scuba-diving all affect the local ecology.
There are a range of impacts from hiking, trekking, and camping that directly affect the
activity area. The most obvious is the erosion and compaction of the trail itself. The daily use
of the trail by hikers the trail wears the trail down and compacts it. If there are any obstacles
such as fallen trees or puddles of mud, then the trail becomes widened or informal trails are
created to bypass the obstacle.. There are a number of other direct impacts on the treaded
area, such as damage or removal of vegetation, loss of vegetation height, reduction in foliage
cover, exposure of tree root systems, migration of trampled vegetation, and introduction
of non-native species.
As well as the direct impacts, there are indirect impacts on the trails, such as a change in soil
porosity, changes to micro flora composition, problems with seed dispersion and germination,
and degradation of soil nutrient composition. As many hikers and trekkers take multi-day
trips, a large number will camp overnight either in formal or random campgrounds. There are
similar impacts on campgrounds such as soil compaction, erosion and composition, loss of
vegetation and foliage, plus the additional issues of campfires for cooking and warmth.
Informal trails are created around the campsite in order to collect firewood and water, and
trees and saplings can be trampled, damaged, or cut-down for fuel. The heat of campfires
may damage tree-root systems. In formal campgrounds, tent pad areas are normally devoid of
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any vegetation while random camping can damage sensitive plants and grasses during a
single overnight stay.
As with most recreation activities, including hiking and camping, there will be waste
generated, food scraps, and human waste. This can cause human-wildlife interactions, such as
the habituation of wildlife to human contact and unusual food sources. This can have a
detrimental effect on the wildlife and pose dangers for the human. Provision for deposit,
collection, and removal of all waste will also have a direct impact on the local environment.
Transit effects
Since 2009 there has been a steady yearly increase in the number of tourist arrivals
worldwide of approximately 4.4 percent. In 2015 there were 1.186 billion tourist arrivals
worldwide, of which 54 percent arrived by air (640 million), 39 percent (462 million) by
motor vehicle, 5 percent by water (59 million), and 2 percent by rail (23.7 million). A seven-
hour flight on a Boeing 747 produces 220 tonnes of , which is the equivalent of driving an
average size family saloon car for a year, or the energy requirement of an average family
home for nearly 17 years. With the ever-increasing number of tourist arrivals, there is an
ever-increasing quantity of global greenhouse gasses (GHG) being produced by the tourism
industry. In 2015 it is estimated that 5 percent of global GHG emissions was attributable to
air travel alone.
As more eco-tourists seek remote, pristine, undeveloped regions, and practice low-impact,
"leave no trace" adventure vacations, their GHG contributions have increased exponentially.
As a result of the accumulation of GHGs the annual average global temperature is rising each
year. New records were set in 2014, 2015 and it is predicted that 2016 will yet again exceed
the previous highest average global temperature. It is causing the oceans to warm and causing
increased frequency of abnormal weather events such as floods and hurricanes. The increase
in the amount of CO2 dissolved into the oceans is changing its chemical composition, leading
to acidification of the oceans, which in turn has led to bleaching of coral reefs worldwide.
In 2016 it was determined that the world's largest coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef, is so
badly affected by bleaching that only 10 percent remained unspoiled and the remaining 90
percent has varying degrees of degradation A recently discovered issue in the Pacific
Northwest caused by acidification, is the decreased survival of pteropods, a key source of
food for salmon. These microscopic invertebrates, known as sea butterflies, are unable to
form their outer shells and die.. These tiny creatures make up a significant portion of the
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salmon diet. Without this nutrition available to the salmon, they may not grow to maturity to
return to their spawning grounds to reproduce and provide food for bears. Bears cycle
nutrients through the forest, where tourists come to view or hunt the bears. Thus the food
web is disturbed. Anthropogenic climate change has both a direct and indirect impact on
tourism.
Co modification of culture
Co modification of culture refers to the use of a cultural traditions and artefacts in order to
sell and profit for the local economy. With the rise of tourism, authors argue that co
modification is inevitable.]There are both positive and negative socio-cultural impacts of co
modification on a culture. One positive is the creation of business and jobs for local
craftsmen, who are able to sell their goods to tourists. Rural tourism is seen as a “cure” for
poverty and leads to the improvement of transportation and development of
telecommunications in an area. For the tourist, commoditization creates an interest for
traditional arts and social practices. However, critics of co modification believe that tourists
are not interested in cultural beliefs and traditions of the locals, but are rather obsessed with
owning a part of it. The argument that by monetizing cultural artefacts locals lose the value to
their culture also exists. It then leads to the belief that tours are no longer authentic
experiences. However, development economists will argue that culture can be utilized just as
any other natural resource.
Researchers look at the impact of tourists on a culture and in short, many argue that the
contact with the secular West leads to the destruction of pre-tourist cultures. In addition, the
“development cure”, the idea that increasing tourism will spur economic change while
strengthening local culture, is claimed to lead to new diseases, such as “drug
addiction, crime, pollution, prostitution, and a decline in social stability” as well as growth of
capitalist values and a consumer culture
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Demonstration effect
The demonstration effect was introduced to tourism when researchers were looking into the
effects of social influences from tourism on local communities. The demonstration effect
argues that local inhabitants copy the behavioural patterns of tourists. There are a number
of social, economic and behavioural reasons as to why the demonstration effect comes into
play. One economic and social reason is that locals copy the consumption patterns of those
higher up the social scale in order to improve their social status. Tourism has also been
accused of affecting social behaviour of the younger members of a host community, who may
imitate what tourists do, impacting traditional value systems.
There are many criticisms to the demonstration effect in tourism. Firstly, tourism is seen as
only one aspect of change in a society. Local people will also see examples of foreign
lifestyles and consumption in advertisements, magazines, on television, and in films, and
therefore tourism is not the only influence on local culture. In addition, the demonstration
effect implies that a culture is “weak” and needs to be protected by outside influences. In
many cases, the demonstrative effect is seen as a negative consequence, but it is argued that
“all cultures are in a continual process of change”, therefore tourism should not be considered
destructive.
Community participation
Community participation refers to the collaboration between community members for the
purposes of achieving common goals, improving their local community and pursuing
individual benefits. Local community members are actively involved in tourism, rather than
passively benefiting from it. Community participation strengthens communities and help to
create a sense of belonging, trust and credibility among members. By involving local
community members, tourism can become more authentic. The community and the tourists
both benefit from community participation, as it boosts their respect for the traditional
lifestyle and values of the destination community. Most destination community members are
also the ones most impacted by tourism, therefore there is an importance in their involvement
in tourism planning. Some researchers will argue that some of the negative impacts of
tourism might be avoided and the positive impacts maximized through community
participation in the planning process.
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Acculturation
Acculturation is the process of modifying an existing culture through borrowing from the
more dominant of cultures. Typically in tourism, the community being acculturated is the
destination community, which then experiences dramatic shifts in social structure and world
view. Societies adapt to acculturation in one of two ways. Innovation diffusion is when the
community adopts practices that are developed by another group; whereas cultural adaptation
is less adoption of a new culture and more the process of changing when the existing culture
is changed. Acculturation is often seen as a method of modernizing a community and there
are many opposing views to the concept of modernization. One argument against
modernization is that it contributes to the “homogenization of cultural differences and the
decline of traditional societies”. This means that communities will advertise their modernity
to attract tourists, and will disregard their traditional customs and values. On the other hand,
others argue that acculturation and modernization will help traditional communities adjust in
a modern world. The idea being that teaching people to adapt will save the community from
future extinction.
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activities, songs, dance, and oral histories. It also opens up the community to the wider world,
new ideas, new experiences, and new ways of thinking.
There can be negative effects from cultural interactions. In terms of economic disadvantages,
local communities need to be able to fund the tourist demands, which leads to an increase of
taxes. The overall price of living increases in tourist destinations in terms of rent and rates, as
well as property values going up. This can be problematic for locals looking to buy property
or others on a fixed income. In addition, to balance out tourist destinations, the number of
locals to tourists must be relatively equal. This can be more problematic for tourists as their
access could be denied. Other negative socio-cultural impacts are differences in social and
moral values among the local host community and the visiting tourist. Outside of affecting
the relationship between tourist and local, it can also cause friction between groups of the
local population. In addition, it can cause drifts in the dynamics between the old and new
generations. Tourism has also correlated to the rise of delinquent behaviours in local host
communities. Crime rates have been seen to rise with the increase of tourists. Crimes are
typically those of rowdy behaviour, alcohol and illegal drug use, and loud noise. In
addition, gambling and prostitution is increased due to tourists looking for a “good time”.
Tourism has also caused more disruption in host communities. Crowding of locals and
tourists may create a vibrant ambiance, it also causes frustration and leads to the withdrawal
of local residents in many places. Increased tourists also results in increased traffic which can
hinder daily life of the local residents.
Economic impacts
Global tourism in 2014 contributed 3.7 percent (US$2.5 billion) to the world's GDP, with its
total contribution rising to almost 10 percent of world GDP. The GDP increase comes from
the over one billion international tourists worldwide, a number that has been growing by 5
percent annually since 2012. Visits and boosts to GDP are expected to continue to rise in the
near future as falling oil prices contribute to reduced living costs and increased available
income for households, as well as reduced costs for air travel.
Tourism can be divided into subcategories into which impacts fall: spending from visitors on
tourism experiences like beach holidays and theme parks (domestic and international),
spending on leisure items like bicycles, business spending, and capital investment. The
economic contribution of tourism is felt in both direct and indirect ways, where direct
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economic impacts are created when commodities like the following are sold: accommodation
and entertainment, food and beverages services, and retail opportunities. Residents, visitors,
businesses, and various levels of governments (municipal to federal) all influence direct
tourism impacts through their spending in or near a given tourism area. The key component
of direct economic impacts of tourism is that they occur within a country's borders and are
implemented by "residents and non-residents for business and leisure purposes".
Induced spending, the re-circulation of a tourist dollar within a community, is another way
that tourism indirectly has an impact on a community. For example, a foreign tourist injects
money into the local economy when he spends a dollar on a souvenir made by a local at the
tourism destination. That individual goes on to spend that dollar on lunch from a local
vendor, and that vendor goes on to spend it locally.
Employment
Employment, and both its availability and exclusivity, are subsets of economic impacts of
tourism. Travel and tourism create 10.7 percent of the total available jobs worldwide, in both
the direct and indirect tourism sectors. Direct tourism jobs, those that provide the visitor with
their tourism experience include, but are not limited to: accommodation (building, cleaning,
managing), food and drink services, entertainment, manufacturing, and shopping Indirect
tourism employment opportunities include the manufacturing of aircraft, boats, and other
transportation, additional superstructure and infrastructure necessary to accommodate these
travel products (airports, harbours), etc
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INDIA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (ITDC)
ITDC came into existence in October 1966 and has been the prime mover in the progressive
development, promotion and expansion of tourism in the country. Broadly, the main
objectives of the Corporation are:
• To construct, take over and manage existing hotels and market hotels, Beach Resorts,
Travellers’ Lodges/Restaurants;
• To provide innovating, dependable and value for money solutions to the needs of
tourism development and engineering industry including providing consultancy and
project implementation.
The authorized capital of the Corporation is Rs 75 cores and the paid up capital as on
31.3.2005 was Rs 67.52 cores. 89.9748% of the paid up equity capital of the Corporation is
held in the name of President of India.
The Corporation is running hotels, restaurants at various places for tourists, besides providing
transport facilities. In addition, the Corporation is engaged in production, distribution and
sale of tourist publicity literature and providing entertainment and duty free shopping
facilities to the tourists. The Corporation has diversified into new avenues/innovative services
like Full-Fledged Money Changer (FFMC) services, engineering related consultancy services
etc. The Ashok Institute of Hospitality & Tourism Management of the Corporation imparts
training and education in the field of tourism and hospitality.
Presently, ITDC has a network of eight Ashok Group of Hotels, six Joint Venture Hotels, 2
Restaurants (including one Airport Restaurant), 12 Transport Units, one Tourist Service
Station,
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37 Duty Free Shops at International as well as Domestic Customs Airports, one Tax Free
outlet and two Sound & Light Shows.
Besides, ITDC is also managing a hotel at Bharatpur and a restaurant at Kosi on behalf of the
Department of Tourism. In addition, it is also managing catering services at Western Court,
Vigyan Bhawan, Hyderabad House and National Media Press Centre at Shastri Bhawan, New
Delhi
HOTELS
Hotels are an important component of the tourism product. They contribute to the overall
tourism experience through the standards of facilities and services offered by them. With the
aim of providing contemporary standards of facilities and services available in the hotels, the
Ministry of Tourism has formulated a voluntary scheme for classification of operational
hotels which will be applicable to the following categories: Star Category Hotels: 5 Star
Deluxe, 5 Star, 4 Star, 3 Star, 2 Star & 1 Star Heritage Category Hotels: Heritage Grand,
Heritage Classic & Heritage Basic
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Publicity and Events
• All matters pertaining to printing of posters, brochures, banners etc. and release of
advertisement (print as well as electronic).
OVERSEAS MARKETING
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The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, through its 14 offices overseas endeavors to
position India in the tourism generating markets as a preferred tourism destination, to
Promote various Indian tourism products vis-à-vis competition faced from various
destinations and to increase India’s share of the global tourism market.
The above objectives are met through an integrated marketing and promotional strategy and a
synergised campaign in association with the Travel Trade, State Governments and Indian
Missions. The specific elements of promotional efforts undertaken overseas include
Advertising in the Print & Electronic Media, Participation in Fairs & Exhibitions, Organising
Seminars, Workshops, Road Shows & India Evenings, Printing of Brochures and Collaterals,
Brochure Support/Joint Advertising with Travel Agents / Tour Operators, Inviting the Media
and Travel Trade to visit the country under the Hospitality Programme etc.
In December, 2010, the Ministry launched its International TV Campaign 2010-11 - Europe.
Leading TV channels of pan-regional reach are part of the Media Plan of the Ministry.
International Accolades
• PATA Grand Award 2010 : Heritage Category - Rural Tourism Project - A Case
Study of Hodka Village.
• PATA Gold Award 2010 : Marketing Media - Travel Advertisement Print Media -
Mahatma Gandhi Creative.
• India has been voted as the 7th best destination in the world in the Conde Nast
Readers’ Travel Awards 2010.
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• World Travel Award 2010 for “World’s Leading Destination Marketing Campaign
2010”.
• Asian Guild Award 2010 recognizing the “contribution made by the Incredible India
campaign in creating awareness about India among Britishers and British Asians
living in UK”.
• Global Traveller Award 2010 : India has been voted as the “Best International
Tourism Destination” by readers of the Global Traveller Magazine, USA.
India tourism offices overseas have participated in the major international Travel Fairs and
Exhibitions in important tourist generating markets the world over as well as in emerging and
potential markets to showcase and promote the tourism products of the country. These
include Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai, PATA Travel Mart in Macau, World Expo
2010 in Shanghai, China International Travel Mart in Shanghai, ITB – Asia in Singapore,
World Travel Market (WTM) in London, IMEX in Frankfurt, FITUR in Madrid and ITB in
Berlin.
India tourism, Beijing was awarded the “Best Tourism Promotion Award” at the World
Travel Fair in Shanghai. India tourism, Tokyo was awarded the “Best Booth Operation
Award” at the Korea World Travel Fair and the “Best Tourism Promotion Award” at the
Busan International Tourism Fair in South Korea.
Promotion
As part of the promotional initiatives undertaken, Road Shows were organized in important
tourist generating markets overseas with participation of different segments of the travel
industry.
• Road Shows, in collaboration with the Indian Association of Tour Operators were
organized in CIS Countries, during the months of September-October 2010. Road
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Shows in collaboration with the PATA India Chapter were organized in May 2010 in
USA and Canada. The Road Shows comprised presentations on India followed by
one-to one business meetings between the trade delegation from India and the travel
trade in the respective countries. The delegation for the Road Shows was led by the
Secretary (Tourism).
• India tourism Toronto undertook massive advertising and outdoor publicity during the
Vancouver Winter Games 2010 in Vancouver and also Paralympics Games 2010 from
February to March 2010.
• India Tourism Paris participated and supported the 3rd France-India Business Cup
Golf Tournament held at St. Tropez, France during 13th – 17th October 2010. A high
level delegation led by Hon’ble Minister Tourism, Joint Secretary (T), Regional
Director, India Tourism Frankfurt attended the event. Hon’ble Minister of Tourism
inaugurated the France-India Business Cup Golf Tournament on 14th of October and
there was a meeting held with various Stakeholders for promotion of Golf Tourism.
• India tourism, Dubai organized the Golf Tournament at Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab
Emirates. India tourism Johannesburg organized “Know India” seminar to the group
of 12 people travelling to India and for the group of 6 ladies travelling to south India
giving information about shopping, hotels, Ayurveda and spas and safe travelling for
women.
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CHAPTER - II
Cruise Tourism
Introduction
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The cruise market is one of the fastest growing segments in the travel and tourism industry
and can make a significant contribution to a destination’s economy. As cruise lines are
increasingly looking for new destinations, cruise tourism can offer opportunities to
Developing countries with harbour facilities and an interesting hinterland. However, barriers
to entrance are high as cruise tourism requires a lot of investments in accessibility and
competition is fierce. Furthermore, cruise tourism can also bring negative impact on a
destination, for example environmental pollution.
This Product Factsheet will give insights into the cruise tourism market. It is written for CBI
Programme Managers and local Business Support Organisations (BSOs) to help them decide
whether or not to invest in cruise tourism development.
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Product description
Cruise tourism is a form of travelling for leisure purposes, involving an all-inclusive holiday
on a cruise ship of at least 48 hours, according to a specific itinerary in which the cruise ship
calls at several ports or cities.
A cruise can be a one-way or a round trip and generally has several ports of call where
passengers can come ashore to explore and experience the attractions, activities, culture,
nature and shopping of that town, city or region. Sometimes travellers first fly to a specific
destination, take a cruise trip from there and then fly back, the so-called ‘fly & cruise’.
Cruise ships come in many styles and sizes, from under 100 to more than 6,000 passengers,
with a wide range of variations in between. They also largely vary in price range, from
budget cruises to luxury cruises. The focus of this Product Factsheets lies on small and
medium-sized cruise ships, from around 80 to around 800 cabins. Large cruise ships
generally have their own Destination Management Companies (DMCs) in which they have a
share or a strong commitment. This makes it very difficult for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) to work with them.
A distinction can be made between river cruises and high-sea cruises. This Product Factsheet
focuses on high-sea cruises as this offers the best potential for Developing Countries. In the
current list of Developing Countries there are hardly any countries that have or are able to
offer river cruises with overnights on board.
Government Initiatives
• A joint Task Force on Cruise Tourism has been constituted by the Ministries of
Tourism and Shipping under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Tourism) with Secretary
(Shipping) as Co-chairman to promote cruise tourism in India. A road map for
developing cruise tourism in India will be prepared
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• As per the recent announcement, Government has allowed foreign flag vessels
carrying passengers to call at Indian ports without securing a license from the Director
General of Shipping till February 5, 2024.
• been identified for implementation, out of which 7 Projects are ready for launch
through After implementation of these projects, investment of about Rs. 650 crore is
expected from the private sector. Further, restricted area permit regime to be relaxed
for tourism promotion in these islands.
Key Destinations
• Mumbai – Being the gateway to India of Cruise Tourism, the commercial capital of
India has witnessed consistent rise in the number of cruise ships coming to the port.
During the last cruise season (between October – May), 37 cruise ships visited
Mumbai and 59 are scheduled to visit this season.
• Chennai – The capital city of Tamil Nadu, the two-time top ranked Tourist State in
terms of the tourist visits has made a mark as the emerging cruise tourist destination
with the development of a cruise terminal. The newly-developed cruise terminal at
Chennai Port received its first visitor in April 201 when Viking Sun, a luxury cruise
liner on a 141-day world tour from Miami to London, docked in the city.
• Cochin – Known as the ‘Queen of the Arabian Sea’, Cochin Port has witnessed rise
in cruise vessel arrivals from 37 in 2015-16 to 46 in 2016-17. Cochin Port is planning
to develop a Marina & International Cruise Terminal at Ernakulam Wharf and the
development is expected to boost the cruise tourism.
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• Mangalore – The chief port city of Karnataka has been witnessing steady growth in
cruise traffic over the years. Mangalore Port handled 28 vessels carrying 30,346
passengers in 2016-17 against 23 vessels carrying 19,000 passengers in 2015-16.
• Goa – Tourism is one of the core sectors of the Goan economy and attracts a lot of
foreign as well as domestic tourists. Upgradation of cruise terminals shall definitely
lead to an increase in inbound foreign tourist arrivals, and also create opportunities to
capture economic value from outbound cruise tourism.
• Vishakhapatnam – Known as the ‘Jewel of the East Coast’ and the principal
commercial hub of State of Andhra Pradesh, Vizag can boast its presence of the long
beaches and close proximity to areas of natural beauty such as Kambalakonda
Wildlife Sanctuary, Araku Valley, and Borra Caves. It is one of the busiest port in
India in terms of the cargo handled and with the development of cruise terminal of
international standards, it is expected that Vizag will emerge as a major cruise tourist
destination.
Recommendations
• Develop important attractions in the locations along the shore line of the country and
ensuring threshold infrastructure for tourist connectivity and convenience.
• Leveraging the “Sagarmala” program for developing a cruise tourism ecosystem with
world-class terminals
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Cruise Tourism in India:
Introduction
The advent of domestic cruise tourism in India is a relatively new phenomenon, although it is
a well-known industry around the world. Many coastal countries, particularly island
countries, are dependent on cruise tourism for their economic growth. With a 7,516-km long
coastline, India has immense potential to develop a domestic cruise industry, which could
significantly contribute to economic growth of the country. Cruise tourism is gaining
popularity in India, for both social and leisure activities and hence there is an immense
opportunity to develop the domestic cruise sector in the country.
Initially targeted at a high-end niche segment of society, cruise tourism has changed its
stereotypical image and has opened its doors to a much larger consumer base. By observing
this growing industry in India, this issue brief aims to highlight the opportunities in the cruise
sector that can be utilized to complement other major development projects. It will also
highlight the challenges that the cruise tourism sector has been facing, using as a case study,
India’s first domestic cruise vessel, the AMET Majesty.
As India sits astride the busy Sea Lines of Communication that crisscross the Indian Ocean,
its nine coastal states, 7516km long coastline, and 14,500km of inland waterways,
collectively impart to the country, a natural advantage in the development of cruise tourism.
The Indian peninsula extends over a thousand miles into the Indian Ocean, and this provides
an additional comparative advantage for the development of the cruise tourism sector in the
country.
According to a 2015 report, India ranks ninth in a list of the world’s most popular tourist
destinations, and is a preferred cruise destination. Indian ports are 2 primary ports of call for
foreign cruise lines. In 2015-16, cruise vessels made 128 calls at five major ports — Mumbai,
Cochin, Goa, New Mangalore and Chennai. Presently, while foreign cruise ships are allowed
only in Mumbai, Chennai and Kochi, domestic operators offer river cruises on the
Brahmaputra and Ganga, which are a part of the National Waterways 1 & 2, and sea cruises
to the Lakshadweep Islands and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, from the ports of
Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai and Kolkata.
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In India, there is a lack of awareness and several misconceptions about cruise tourism, and
there is little or no realization of the opportunities it offers in the Indian market. India’s
culture and heritage have attracted tourists from various countries, and for that reason, India
has a very large number of well-developed tourist locations. Knowing that India’s major
heritage sites happen to be located in the coastal areas, cruise tourism development will
surely be beneficial.
As per the Bureau of Immigration, Government of India, 20.38 million Indians travelled
abroad in 2015, which is an annual growth of 11.1%. However, the number of cruise
passengers from India during 2015 is just about 120,000- 125,000, which does not even
amount to 1% of the total outbound. This means cruise tourism in India is virtually an
untapped segment and has the potential to grow many folds, year-on-year. According to
Krishna Biyani, MD, Ark Travels, “Larger ships and varied itineraries is what the Indian
customer is looking for and that is what is being offered in 2017 in the South Asian region.
MICE are already showing a growth of 10% for the year. The traveller trends for Diwali are
also looking positive.”
Indian travellers have arrived at a point where they distinguish between cruise as an attraction
and cruising as a complete vacation, believes says Dipti Adhia, Director, Discover the World
- India. “There are now many more players in the fray, but the ones to succeed, will be those
who can offer the product and service which is out of the box. India has just began its journey
as an emerging market for International cruising,” she adds.
As per the Cruise Industry Outlook 2017 by Cruise Lines International Association released
in December 2016, from 2017 to 2026, 97 new ocean ships are on order, which will add new
capacity of 230,788. This is a combined total investment of more than USD 6.8 billion. “In
the last few years, cruising has generated unprecedented interest among Indian travellers.
Therefore, we are witnessing a good season this year and will aggressively look at
showcasing our products. Outbound cruise tourism has emerged as the fastest growing
holiday segment in the past five years and this is a result of the growing disposable income,
youth travel and aggressive marketing and sales activities across India by cruise liners.
Indians are looking for newer experiences and a cruise holiday is a perfect combination of a
land, ocean and air travel which is enticing. The sheer number of ships on order for ocean and
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river cruises shows the tremendous pace at which the segment is growing globally as well as
in India,” says Manor Singh, Country Head – India, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
Cruise Tourism in India has had its ups and downs in all these years, but if looked at different
segments, one can find that only the outbound tourism has done well on a sustainable basis. A
substantial growth in outbound tourism has been seen in last 10 years, says Nesmith Saxena,
Founder & Director, Cruise Professionals. “With the deployment of new technologies and the
construction of new ships, the cruise industry has been able to meet the expectations of the
travellers so far, resulting in this stable growth and strong economic impact around the world.
And with the government finally focusing on cruise industry as a serious business, and the
private port operators planning to make the necessary arrangements to be done to cater the
passengers, the future of cruise tourism seems bright,” he adds.
Since the cruise segment in India is still at a very nascent stage, the opportunity lies in
developing the domestic ocean cruising market. A significant number of travellers in India
are still unaware of how a cruise holiday can be a great option of exploring new destinations
as well as indulging in onboard facilities on a single trip. It is advisable to launch a
contemporary ship sailing in the domestic waters. This would allow passengers from India
get a first-hand experience on their home turf since the product would be effectively cheaper
than its international counterparts. As a majority of the population in India is still not familiar
about cruising, it is difficult to develop and sustain a product that is targeted at only a niche
premium segment. At this juncture, it is imperative that a ship sailing in Indian waters is
launched, which would be a novelty. It should be targeted at a larger audience to not only
popularise the segment and product at large, but also elevate India’s tourism offering.
Moreover, a domestic cruise ship docking and making ports of call in the country would also
draw the interest of and promotional investment from the state tourism boards in showcasing
the best of what their coast can offer in terms of sightseeing and accommodations, besides
local culture and cuisine. Hence, a mass product is preferable at this stage.
However, there also exists a case for the launch of two distinct products for the Indian
market, which may be distinguished as a mass product and a class product. Additionally, to
make cruise tourism a vibrant segment, the foremost step is education of the travel agents and
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tour operators, since bookings in India are largely driven through them. Another crucial area
that needs to be accorded adequate focus is the emerging Tier-II and III cities, which are the
hidden gems because those are the markets where the majority of bookings will be generated
from in the future. Since Indians are price conscious, while devising a cruise package, the
cost-aspect should be given a detailed consideration.
Opportunities
The Indian government’s commitment towards making India a cruise destination is quite
clear from the measures taken by it to promote this sector. Six of India’s major ports are
being developed as world-class cruise terminals. These ports, which are located in states
where tourism is a strongly supported sector, provide a ready platform for the development of
cruise tourism. These ports are Mumbai, Goa, Kochi, New Mangalore, Tuticorin and
Chennai. In four of them, terminals for cruise liners are ready, but they require additional
infrastructure for passengers to have a smooth entry into the city.
The port of Kochi, for instance, has basic berthing facilities at the Samaria Convention
Centre. However, foreign ships that call at the port, are too large for the jetty to handle,
forcing the ships to berth at the Ernakulum Wharf, where they jostle for space with a variety
of cargo ships, at a wharf that does not have facilities for cruise liners. The Kochi Port Trust
submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Tourism for the creation of a new terminal. Estimated
to be completed by 2019, the terminal would have state-of-the-art facilities, making Kochi a
preferred destination for cruise tourism. Kochi is also the first port in India to set up an online
immigration clearance facility. The port attracted 39 cruise liners in 2016 and is expected to
cater to 45 cruises in 2017.Encouraged by the success of operations by Mumbai’s first cruise
ship, the ‘Costa neo Classical’, the Ministry of Shipping has planned to develop cruise
terminals in all the above-mentioned ports. Costa Cruises, for instance, have extended their
reach in India to Kochi and Mangalore Ports as well. Likewise, the Royal Caribbean Cruises
plan to begin domestic voyages in India on the West Coast, starting in December 2017. With
major cruise lines entering India, one can imagine the potential Indian market has, to develop
a domestic cruise tourism industry. In 2016-17, India’s passenger traffic for cruise tourism
stood at 1.76lakh, and this is estimated to grow to 1.5 million by 2031-32.
The government of Kerala, too, has drawn up an ambitious, 300crore ‘Malabar Cruise
Tourism Plan’, to link the rivers and backwaters in North of Kerala. The plan is a part of the
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development of the National Waterway 3, which is a major tourist destination in the state.
Other than state governments, the central government, too, has launched several initiatives to
boost India’s cruise tourism industry. Amongst these are the
Following:
(i) The Ministry of Shipping has further requested the Goods and Services Tax(GST) Council
to continue to exempt Cruise Tourism from the ambit of GST.
(ii) E-visa facilities have been extended to five major ports, following the model of Kochi
port.
(iii) A 30 per cent rebate is being offered on vessel related charges by all major ports to cruise
ships.
(iv) Cruise vessels are exempted from any priority, ousting, or shifting charges at all major
ports, provided the vessel informs the port 30 days in advance.
(v) Major ports provide 25 per cent rebate in vessel related charges for coastal cruise
movements, in addition to the existing rebate of 40 per cent for coastal vessels.
(vi) Walk-in or preferential berthing is given to cruise vessels at their home ports, without
any extra charge.
(vii) Foreign Flag passenger vessels are allowed to call at Indian ports with out obtaining a
license from DG Shipping. This was initially allowed for a maximum 4 period of 10 years,
but now (with effect from 06 February 2009) the period for which this relaxation is
applicable has been extended to 15 years.
(viii) A Task Force to promote cruise tourism has been constituted jointly by the Ministry of
Shipping and the Ministry of Tourism. The Task Force is responsible for formulating suitable
strategies and for facilitating their execution.
(ix) The government has implemented Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the
handling of cruise vessels.
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Secretary Tourism of the concerned state as its ViceChairman, and the Regional Director of
the respective region of the Ministry of Tourism as its Convener.
(xi) The Ministry of Tourism also extends financial assistance to Ports for tourism
infrastructure, under its Scheme for Assistance to Central Agencies. This reform has attracted
various foreign-flag vessels to Indian ports, and has also opened up opportunities for
domestic companies to venture into this sector.
With other projects, such as ‘Sagarmala’ and its sub-projects such as port industrialisation,
existing companies and entrepreneurs can set up cruise tourism related businesses. They
would be supported by the above-mentioned rebates, along by other initiatives like ‘Start-Up
India’, ‘Skill India’ and ‘make in India’.
All these initiatives and projects complement one another and hence, it will not only promote
domestic cruise tourism, but also help in the development of Coastal Economic Zones and the
success of Project Sagarmala. Cruise tourism is gaining currency among Indians, albeit
incrementally. This changing trend has seen people of all age and income groups preferring
cruises as a mode of travel and relaxation; it is no longer considered to be an unaffordable
luxury. With the concept of the Blue Economy very much part of the global discourse, cruise
liner operators are looking for islands as their destinations, which makes India, which has
more than 1300 islands and islets. a potential cruise hub.
Challenges
Despite growing interest of Indians in cruise tourism industry, India is yet to use its potential
to the optimum usage. Except for South Asian cruises, where India’s passenger share was six
per cent in 2016, Indians form a very small percentage on other cruise lines. Though India
has the potential to develop its cruise tourism industry, certain challenges have hindered the
growth of businesses in this industry.
Inadequate infrastructure and a lack of clear cruise policy are two of the more significant
ones. India’s first cruise ship, AMET Majesty, offers a telling example of these challenges,
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whereby the AMET Group faced several hurdles in achieving their goal of making their
cruise ship an economically viable venture that could be afforded by common peoples.
Changing dynamics of cruise tourism in India New tourism policy may emerge as a game
changer
The changing dynamics of cruise tourism has been brought in by new tourism policies to be
implemented this month, to tap potentials that will help in earning valuable foreign exchange
and job creation.
The Union Tourism Minister, Mahesh Sharma said that cruise tourism will emerge as a game
changer in the wake of ‘Action Plan for Development of Cruise Tourism in India’,
introduced by Nitin Gadkari.
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and Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari at the ‘Workshop on Action Plan for
Development of Cruise Tourism in India’ held in capital city New Delhi.
The policy will envisage norms for immigration, security problems for foreign tourists,
hospitality and restaurants. The country attracts nearly 70 cruise vessels a year, which is
expected to go up to 700 with this initiative, the minister said.
The government plans to develop western Indian city of Mumbai and southern Indian ports of
Chennai, Kochi, Goa and Mangalore into cruise terminals. It has also urged 200 minor and
private ports with the state governments to develop passenger terminals for cruise tourists.
Gadkari stated, “Capital investment for ports is productive. We are eyeing a profit of INR 70-
80 billion from ports this fiscal year. I also urge states to set up task force to see coordination
happens on day to day basis.”
According to official reports, “The Government is moving to make India more incredible
with INR 15 billion investment for cruise terminals, with an aim to attract 10-fold traffic. The
move is expected to add 0.25 million jobs, and also increase India’s share in global cruise
tourism from 0.5 pc. It also sits well with the plan to build better beaches.”
The numbers say. According to latest figures, India has a very small share in world cruise
tourism market, as against 23 million passengers globally in 2016. Current estimates indicate
that approximately 1, 20,000 Indians book a cruise each year. As per Singapore Tourism
Board statistics, over 90 pc of India’s cruise tourists travel to that country for cruising
experience.
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Khalid Gori, Chief Operating Officer, Ark Travels talked about the growing potential of
cruise tourism in India, stating, “While travellers over 45 years still represent the core cruise
market, in recent years the number of younger people going on cruises has risen
continuously. In recent years cruises have become a boom segment of the travel industry. In
2015, around 22 million cruises were undertaken worldwide, so that compared to the
previous year the cruise market grew by around three per cent. These are findings of a special
survey by the World Travel Monitor, carried out by IPK International and commissioned by
ITB Berlin. Particularly for India, we must admit that it’s a great step by Genting Hong Kong
to bring its new luxury cruise to India and allowing Indian passengers to go onboard from
Mumbai. This marks a landmark shift in the cruise tourism industry for our country. It’s a
remarkable feet.”
“The idea is to put India on the global cruise map, both for oceans and rivers, which is seen to
create jobs and boost growth. Domestic cruise passengers are estimated to grow to 1.5 million
by 2031-32,” commented Nitin Gadkari.
On asking about luxury tourism and Indian cruises, Gori stated,” On our part as a B2B travel
agents, Ark Travels being one-of-the leading PSAs for Star Cruises, Dream Cruises, Crystal
Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Regent, Oceania and Silver Sea Cruises, we are catering to
the demands coming from all segment of Indian tourists i.e. FITs, Groups, MICE,
honeymooners, single travellers, women travellers and young and senior citizens.”
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The government intends to promote cruise shipping and related tourism through the
coordination of Shipping and Tourism ministries and has announced cruise tourism
development as a project of national importance.
Number of cruise passengers and penetration rates1 in global markets Millions of passengers,
Percentage
Cruise tourism is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing components of the leisure
industry worldwide. The annual industry passenger capacity, world over, is expected to grow
from an estimated 26.7 million passengers in 2018 to around 40 million by 2027, registering
an increase of 48 per cent over the next ten years.
The new, national level, multi-member body, India Cruise Lines Association (INCLA), aims
to catalyze the growth of the sector, not only in India but even in the global market.
In Asia, China has been the front runner as the main source country for driving passenger
growth, adding 1 million passengers in 2016 and growing at a record 76 per cent cumulative
average growth rate (CAGR) in the current year.
India today, has a very small share of the world cruise tourism market having registered
1.9lakh cruise travellers in the year 2016. However, with over 7500 km long coast line, India
has tremendous potential to attract international cruise tourists.
With the country’s economy developing at a high rate and steady pace, domestic travellers
are also interested in going on cruises. The inland waterways of India also offer enormous
scope to develop cruise tourism for domestic and international travellers.
Cruise travel, lately, has also emerged as the fastest growing outbound vertical in India.
There has been a growing interest for sailing from Singapore and Dubai among Indian cruise
travellers. But the compulsion of travelling to these foreign locations adds extra expenditure
for them and is a huge loss of revenue to the Government.
Although a cruise shipping policy was announced by the Minister of Shipping to promote
India as an attractive cruise tourism destination, the real thrust to develop this sector came
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when a Task Force was constituted by the Union Government in 2016, with Secretary,
Ministry of Tourism as Chairman and Secretary, Ministry of Shipping as Co-Chairman. The
Task Force has representatives from the sea ports, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of
External Affairs, Customs Department, CISF and the coastal states. The Task Force has made
the following important achievements so far:
Appointment of a global consultant for preparing action plan and detailed roadmap for
development of cruise tourism in India, and
1) Development of dedicated cruise terminals and other related infrastructure for berthing of
cruise vessels and embarking and disembarking of cruise passengers, at five major ports
namely Mumbai, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Kochi and Chennai
3) Setting up a Single Window System for all pre-cruise requirements of operators like entry
of vehicles, personnel and guides
5) Initiating talks with the top international cruise liners, inviting them to make India a home
port for their vessels
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The policy initiatives and reforms by the Union Government have instilled tremendous
energy and optimism amongst the private stakeholders of the cruise tourism industry. Costa
Neo Classical, a luxury cruise liner has started Mumbai-Maldives sailing for the past two
seasons, A larger number of ships are calling at Indian ports. The announcement by the Essel
Group, an Indian corporate giant to make an entry in this sector is likely to trigger similar
reactions from other corporate entities in India and abroad. The industry feels that once sea
ports in India get the infrastructure and facilities similar to those at airports, cruise tourism
will surely take off and in few years, India will have a different seascape.
The formation of India Cruise Lines Association (INCLA), a new industry body, has come at
the most appropriate time. This national level, multi-member body aims to catalyze the
growth of the sector, not only in India but even in the global market. It will bring together all
stakeholders on a common platform, with a vision to create a road map for development of
cruise sector in the country.
INCLA, that includes Central and State Government officials, ex-bureaucrats, international
cruise liners and tourism representatives as its executive members, will engage with the
Governments, port authorities and other stakeholders to materialise the huge potential India
has in the cruise tourism sector. INCLA, during its launch at the Global Cruise Conclave at
Mumbai has set the ball rolling by submitting the ‘White Paper’ to the Union Minister of
Shipping, suggesting necessary reforms in policy, tax and regulatory laws. The key reforms
suggested in the white paper include:
Allowing foreign-flagged cruise ships to be allowed to call at Indian ports without obtaining
license from Director General of Shipping
Immigration regulation to be reviewed and visa cost for cruise passengers to be reduced
Custom laws and regulations to be revisited to ensure that declaration of Inventory and
Stocks and their sealing is waived for the Indian cruise industry
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Rational Tax Structure under the Goods and Services Tax
The aforesaid suggestions, seem reasonable, timely and necessary to bring in price
competitiveness, ease of business and also usher in a more cruise-tourism friendly perception
of India before the international cruise industry. It is time that age-old laws and regulations
governing cruise shipping are rationalised and cruise travelling is made as seamless as
possible. In this age of technology, there can be no room for delay and discomfort. In the
present world of tourism, the ease of access, travel and doing business are of paramount
importance.
The Union Government has time and again, expressed its commitment, both in words and
actions, to catapult cruise tourism in India to a higher orbit. The cruise industry is equally
determined to extend support to the Government. Cruise tourism is like a ‘Gold Mine’ for
Indian tourism. Only a fraction of the mine has been extracted so far. The Union
Government, State Governments, the newly-formed INCLA and the cruise industry will have
to go the ‘extra mile’ to harness the untapped potential of cruise tourism in India.
Cruise Tourism is like a ‘Gold Mine’ for India tourism. Only a fraction has been extracted so
far. The Union Government, the State Governments, INCLA and the cruise industry will have
to go the ‘extra mile’ to harness its untapped potential in India.
Cruise tourism can be defined as the use of ships for pleasure cruising and not merely for
transportation (UNWTO, 1997). Ocean and coastal cruise tourism is unique in the manner in
which it provides a combination of transportation, accommodation, entertainment, retail and
destination services. Cruise liners can be regarded as floating resort facilities, which have the
major advantage of seasonal repositioning.
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal’s cruise tourism study emphasised the fact that cruise tourism is an
important niche market. This market was estimated to be10.3 million in 2001, which
represented 1.5% of global tourists. In 2006 this market had grown to some 12 million and it
is projected that it will grow to 16 million by 2009. The average growth rate of this sector has
been in the order of 8% per annum, since 1980, making it the fastest growing global tourism
sector. At Seatrade Miami 2007 it was reported that the value of this sector in terms of direct
tourism expenditure is some 29 Billion US Dollars and is a industry that sustains some 559
000 jobs.
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Three cruise liner groups, with a series of brands or subsidiaries, namely Carnival Cruise
Lines, Royal Caribbean and the Star Cruise Group, dominate the cruise industry. It is
expected that these groups will control in the order of 90% of the cruise tourism market by
2010.
In 2001 some 6.9 million of this market originated from North America, 0.8 million from the
United Kingdom and 0.4 million from Germany. This study also reinforced the observation
that cruise tourists tend to be wealthy, frequent travellers, who use cruises to sample
destinations. Cruise tourists tended to be to be drawn from more middle to mature age
segments, but this tendency is changing as more younger segments are being attracted to this
form of tourism.
In 2001 the market share of the various cruise destinations were as follows;
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SOME POTENTIAL ROUTES FOR DESTINATION CRUISES
The South African coastline and the rest of the East Coast of Africa offer a wide range of
attractions that would make the establishment of destination cruise operations feasible. These
range from the well known Table Mountain, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, and Winelands
of the port of Cape Town, to the Addo Elephant Park and beaches in the vicinity of the ports
of Port Elizabeth and East London, to the sub-tropical beaches, Zulu cultural villages, the
KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and Ukhlahamba-Drakenberg World Heritage Site, which are
within easy reach of the port of Durban, to famous game reserves of the like of Hluhluwe-
Imfilosi, Tembe Elephant Park and the Isimangiliso or Greater St Lucia Wetland Park in
close vicinity of the Port of Richards Bay, to Mozambique’s tropical beaches and islands
close to the port of Maputo, to the Serengeti, tropical beaches and islands of the like of
Zanzibar within close range of the Tanzanian port of Dar Es Salem and the Kenyan port of
Mombassa, to the tropical majesty of the islands of Madagascar, Reunion, Mauritius and the
Seychelles.
The following are examples of itineraries offered by two liners that operate in South African
waters and off the rest of the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands:
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9 Durban Durban, South Africa
The policy on cruise shipping in India came as early as 2008 but significant little moved on
this front in the later years. According to Zutshi, the current government that came in May
2014 had immediately swung into action to grow country’s cruise tourism. “In June 2014, a
month after the new government took over Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself addressed
the issue of cruise tourism in India and how to harness the potential,” he says.
Ever since, a high level Task Force has been constituted involving the two Union Ministries
of Tourism and Shipping and Bermello Ajamil & Partners has been appointed as consultants
to prepare a viable plan for cruise operation in India. The Task Force has conducted several
rounds of meeting with travel trade, cruise professionals, custom officials, Home Ministry
and other stakeholders to accelerate the process of bringing in cruise tourism in India.
A work in progress for a few years now, a new cruise tourism policy, with the main thrust to
increasing the cruise line traffic to 700 vessels a year, is expected to see the light of the day
soon. Other developments on this front include cruise hubs to be developed in Mumbai, Goa,
Mangalore, Kochi and Chennai, a 30 per cent rebate on all cruise vessels related charge,
number of the days a cruise ship can dock to be raised from one to three, foreign flag vessels,
as part of cabotage reform, carrying passengers have been allowed to call at Indian ports
without securing a license from the Director General of Shipping, eVisa facility for Mumbai,
Goa, Kochi, Chennai and New Mangalore ports have already been initiated and foundation
stone for a new 300 crore international cruise terminal at Mumbai that is expected to be ready
by June 2019.
India’s untapped cruise potential is enormous. Rawal says that India’s strong reputation as an
enchanting, exotic, historic and beautiful destination would have an immediate advantage in
catapulting India as one of the leading cruise destination. “Long and scenic coastline, with
access to many ports, several natural spots and breathtaking destination like Mumbai, Goa,
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Cochin, Andaman, among others, creates natural advantage for the country to attract more
international cruise lines,” he says.
Besides, India has certain strategic advantages in the area that it can exploit. As Chaddha
says, “India is in a very strategic positioning today. Unlike China and other parts of the
world, India is the only country that allows people with multiple port experience and that is a
huge advantage for us. If you look at China, it’s a turnaround port. It’s the same with other
parts in Europe, it’s the same in the US. But in India, you are doing multiple ports. So we
need to take advantage of that.”
Cruising Windfall
According to Zutshi, Bermello in their initial report has pointed that India is sitting on a gold
mine of cruise tourism with a direct cruise revenue benefit to the government to the tune of
Rs. 35,50crore (US $5.5 billion) as against current Rs. 712 crore (Around US $110 million),
clearly showing that there is massive untapped potential to grow the current size to a
staggering 50 times more from the revenue point of view!
According to CLIA statistics, in 2017 India had a mere 128 cruise calls, whereas Thailand
and Malaysia in the region get about 500 cruise calls a year. “There is a real opportunity if
India can get to the number of calls that Malaysia or Thailand is getting. We are talking about
say 400-500 per cent increase in calls,” says Treacy. He also pointed that with 94 ships on
order by the global cruise line industry; there is also significant employment opportunity that
India can take advantage of. “The industry is looking at 80,000 employees that will be hired,”
he pointed.
Furthermore, he said that in terms of passenger destination days India only does 140,000
compared to over 4.3 million of Japan. “The economic impact is significant when we look at
the number of visits. With over 8 million visits in North Asia (Japan, China, South Korea and
HK), the direct expenditure through cruise tourism was to the tune of US $ 3.23 billion,” he
informed.
So how do we get the cruise liners into India and grow the market? It is important to prove to
the cruise line decision makers that India is also a profitable region to bring their ships to,
deploy and to invest in for long term benefits and profitability. To meet India’s untapped
cruise potential, Treacy highlighted five key fundamentals- Government cooperation,
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infrastructure to accommodate today’s cruise ships, stable and consistent operating
conditions, collaboration with all the stakeholders like travel agents, tour operators,
developers of infrastructure and all other stakeholders and profitability, as key to building
cruise industry in India. He particularly highlighted that stable and consistent regulations and
operating conditions is very important as companies typically plan two to three years ahead
and therefore need to know that the basic conditions of operating are easy to predict.
Chaddha says, “The fundamental problem at the moment remains that something else is
discussed at the top level but it is not percolating down to the grass root level. There are so
many agencies that one need to co-ordinate with. We need to get all stakeholders from the
government side on the same page. What happens in Goa may not be in conjunction with
what we have already discussed in Delhi. And that is where cruise lines are facing challenges
because every day is a new day. We can’t have that kind of scenario. We need to be easy to
do business with and there should be one window approach for all our issues. Although the
SOPs are in place based on our recommendations but the implementation is not there yet.”
Rawal advocated the need to develop international standard accessible, convenient and well
equipped port infrastructure with passenger services, linkages and security, fast immigration
and transit passage through ports and cruise terminals, especially at port cities like Mumbai,
Goa and Cochin that will be key to developing cruise tourism in India. He also said that it is
crucial to develop more such ports in India at Porbandar and Kandla on the West Coast and
Vishakhapatnam, Kolkata and Paradip on the East Coast to create new cruising opportunities
for the country and cruise liners. He also stressed the need of skilling cruise personnel
through training programmes, developing their awareness on tourism, safety and security,
among others, and for the cruise lines and authorities to have regular and ongoing dialogues
to decide attractive cruise circuits.
Kollar drew attention to other markets that have had similar challenges and have succeeded.
“One of the best examples is Australia that has the highest penetration rate in the world at 5.3
per cent that means one in 19 Australians cruise every year today. Firstly it started by selling
to capacity the odd ships that did arrive in Australian waters. It started by selling more close-
to-home cruises so the passenger counts from Australia grew. This drew the attention of the
cruise lines and so few more ships came which was also sold out. And this started a boom
with big companies all of a sudden deploying in Australian waters full time. In fact we were
the first nation to have a cruise line ship based perennially year round outside of the US
market,” Kollar said.
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Similar to what Kollar said, Saxena also pointed that a vast coastline may not essentially be
an advantage. He said, “Instead India should focus on developing one or two ports and make
good examples of successfully handling cruise ships and then replicate the modal elsewhere
in the country, that way cruise companies will have more confidence in bringing their ships.
The global cruise industry is growing rapidly. It grew from 10 million in the year 2000 to
more than 25 million in 2017. And with 94 ships on order today, the number of cruise
passengers is projected to reach 40 million by 2025. With India’s overall outbound travel
growing at a robust pace year-on-year and being estimated to be a 50 million outbound travel
market by 2020, cruise industry is keen to develop this largely untapped and hitherto a very
small cruise source market.
While pointing at India’s growing economic clout on the world stage, Treacy says, “If we
look at the World Bank statistics, India is projected to surpass Germany as the fourth largest
economy over the next 12 to 15 years. We are looking at population that will afford to travel
on cruise abroad greater than that of US. So when we look at cruise passenger numbers of
130,000, to let’s say we get 200,000 this year (2018); it’s still quite small compared to the 14
million that we are seeing out of US, or over one million that we are seeing out of Australia.
There is untapped potential but there is a lot work to do.”
Chan pointed that as a source market India should be viewed in terms of the number of cruise
passengers that it is generating against the total outbound leisure travel. “We may have about
26 million Indians that travelled abroad in 2017, but less than 150,000 people going on
cruising,” he said alluding that there is lot more that travel agents can to do to grow the
numbers.
Sharing tips on how to convert land vacationers to cruising, Chan particularly highlighted two
key aspects, value-adds and choices. “A lot of guests don’t care whether it is cruise vacations
or land vacations. They care about if they want to go to a certain destination, at a certain
budget, which form of vacation can offer them the best experience. Over the past three years,
Northern Europe has become a very attractive cruising destination because the hotel, dining
and transportation is expensive in the Indian market and in Asia. If you compare a cruising
vacation to Northern Europe and are telling about having the same experience at much less
total cost and value-adds, you will find great value. This is one of the most powerful ways to
sell cruise vacations,” he suggested.
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Furthermore he suggested that the travel fraternity need to highlight the range of choices a
cruise vacation offers. “A lot people in India and Asia have strong perception that there may
not be many offerings on a cruise ship. We need to change that perception. Talk about the
choices,” he suggested.
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Cruise market rapidly and successfully growing, especially inAsia
24.7 million cruises sold globally in 2016, including 3.1 million Asians
► China is world’s fastest growing cruise market – 1.5 million cruises,66% CAGR
► Indian cruise market – 180 thousand cruises sold in 2016, 31% CAGR
► Although small, every reason to believe that Indian cruise market can achieve
Significant growth, emulating China
► Carnival Corp & plc, listed in New York (NYSE 500) and London (FTSE 100)
► Brands include P&O Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises, Costa and Carnival
► 102 ships with 220,000 lower beds carrying 11 million passengers a year
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Tata Consulting indicate Indian domestic cruise potential for 7m
People by 2022
► 5.3m Indian households will earn $55k in 2018, rising to 8.2m in 2022
► 1.7m high-income households, rising to 3.0m, will take a domestic hotel holiday
What currently limits India from benefitting from the cruise boom?
► India has a very small cruise base – 6% of Asian region (0.5% of global market)
► However, there are positive signs – 31% CAGR, young average cruise age (37)
► Asian market growth depends on short domestic cruises which are cheaper:
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► With no domestic cruise industry, Indian ports lose an important income stream:
- Of the 5570 Asian cruise port calls in 2016, little more than 100 calls were
in India
► Port costs are extremely high compared with other parts of the world
Cruise industry
► Asian market growth depends on short domestic cruises which are cheaper:
► Indian cruise growth depends on global cruise corporations deploying ships there
► India must create a domestic cruising tax regime competitive with international
tax regimes elsewhere, which means:
► Red tape must be reduced and passenger and goods declarations digitalised
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GST – Cruise Fare
Australia – generally 0%; 10% for some charges within territorial waters
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India – 20% service charges (reduced to 5%) during entire voyage
Australia – generally 0%; 10% for some charges within territorial waters
United States – 0%
United States – 0%
► Fiscal incentives for the cruise industry will promote growth in jobs, skills and
the economy, using a “sunrise” industry approach.
► Repeal the 200 mile economic zone rule and replace with a 12 mile rule
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noting that most cruise operation takes place in international
waters, outside 12 mile limit
► Exempt cruise activities within 12 mile limit as “de minimise” for fares and
allow
Certain onboard outlets to open tax-free within the 12 mile limit.
► We have compared Costa neo Classical port costs in Mediterranean and India
Cost per transit call: Indian average €50k vs. Med average €15k
► Indian harbour dues, dockage and pilot age are the biggest
problems, also head tax in Moraga and Mangalore
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CHAPTER -III
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LITERATURE REVIEW
The field of tourism has been described as pre-paradigmatic and multidisciplinary. The
acclaimed ‘poverty of tourism theory’ is attributed to the fragmentation, managerialism and
lack of unifying theoretical perspectives characterising empirical research. Constituting a
sub-category of tourism, cruise research is presumably subject to similar criticism. The niche
character of the cruise sector implies a limited amount of domain-specific research, possibly
exacerbating the relevance and intensity of those issues. Mainstream bibliographic databases
were systematically queried, resulting to a collection of 145 cruise-related academic
publications published between 1983 and 2009. The identified publications were analysed in
terms of their content and meta-data. Apart from providing a comprehensive analysis of
cruise research, the validity and relevance of the posed hypothesis are also challenged.
This paper attempts to capture the essence of the key elements needed to master tourism
in the Caribbean. The author uses his eight years (1994‐2001) hospitality and tourism
management and research experience in the Caribbean in writing this paper. He also uses
information gathered by participating in ten major hospitality and tourism regional
conferences and some 175 elite interviews he conducted with stakeholders of Caribbean
tourism during the last three years. The paper analyses the importance of touris m to the
Caribbean, key tourist destinations, challenges, sustainable development and community
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involvement. In conclusion, the author recommends product diversification and
well‐planned community participation in tourism development for the Caribbean. The
paper also calls for well‐coordinated efforts by all stakeholders to ensure sustainability
of tourism development in the Caribbean.
This paper uses qualitative data from 260 cruise customers that were mined from
archived online discussion boards. Data were analyzed based on grounded theory and
interpretive methods to derive an understanding of ships cape meanings and influences
from the cruiser's perspective.
Marketing research and revenue optimization for the cruise industry: A concise review
This paper presents a concise review of the cruise industry mainly from marketing research
and revenue optimization prospects. In recent years, the cruise industry has experienced an
exciting growth. However, as one of the fastest growing and most profitable categories in the
entire leisure market, this industry has hardly received any research attention. Given the
limited academic articles, this paper presents a concise review about this budding research
topic. First of all, a discussion about global cruise industry is conducted. Then, academic
studies of the cruise industry on general marketing research, revenue management, itinerary
design/optimization, optimal market segmentation, demand infiltration and economic issues
are reviewed. Finally, some promising directions for future research are presented
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Environmentally sustainable cruise tourism
Cruise tourism continues to be a major international growth area. In terms of achieving
sustainable tourism it is, therefore, a sub-sector within which socio-economic, cultural and
environmental considerations need to be continually analysed, addressed and monitored. The
environmental impacts of cruise tourism are categorised in this paper and potential strategies
that can be employed by both cruise line operators and cruise tourism destinations are
explored. Secondary evidence of action by both parties suggests that the industry is taking a
number of belated positive steps. However, decision-makers in cruise tourism destinations,
particularly those outside North America, need to work closely with operators to facilitate
both integrated waste management and intergenerational and intra-societal equity rather than
merely accept the prospect of short-term economic gain.
Cruise tourism is a dynamic, growing segment of tourism that has long ceased to represent a
mere niche and is slowly but steadily entering the domain of mainstream tourism. Yet, cruise
tourism represents a minor fraction of tourism-related literature and research (Papathanassis
and Beckmann, 2011). This study aims to examine the main trends and state-of-the-art
developments in cruise tourism. The intension is to provide a starting point, a basis for non-
specialists in this area, for further interdisciplinary research.
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Global service supply chains: An empirical study of current practices and
challenges of a cruise line corporation
This research paper examines solutions to the complexity of global cruise ship supply chain
management through a field study of a large Florida-based global cruise company's practices
in re-supplying ships globally. This field study focuses on the key characteristics of a cruise
ship supply chain and the best practices in managing that global service supply chain. The
methodology used for this study is a 24-month field study equally divided between time on
cruise ships and time at the head office, complemented by 19 formal semi-structured
interviews of directors and managers within the supply chain management department of the
cruise company. The findings of this study have implications for the management of complex
global service supply chains in such settings as humanitarian/emergency supply chains, and
resort/tourism supply chains.
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CHAPTER -IV
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As we can see that out of 19 Response 42.1% are female and 57.9% are male by this we
can figure it out that females and males travelling rate is equal . now days Females are also
willing to travel
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The people who are undergone this survey are all Indians since it related to the Indian Cruise
tourism
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As per above data the people who are under gone this survey falls under the age category
of 18-25 years .and the rest of them falls under 26-35 age category
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As per this survey data collection the 78.9% are the students and the 15% are the employees
and 5% people are doing the business
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As per above data collection 47.4% people have travelled in the cruise line and 52% have
not travelled in the cruise line by this we can understand that the cruise tourism is the new
concept for the country like India..so it needs to be promoted in big way.
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As per above data collection the purpose of travel of the people was 36% leisure and 31.6%
are visit friends and family and 30% people are travelling for other purpose
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As per above data collection the we can see that the data of the how is the infrastructure
facilities in cruise line in India
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As per above data we can see that how the cruise line services is rated in India
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As per the above data 65% people are willing to travel only once in the year and 35% people
are willing to travel multiple times
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As per above data we can see that 60%people are willing to book their tickets by their own
and 20% travel agent and 20% official website
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CHAPTER -V
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METHODOLGY
AIM
To understand about the cruise tourism in the Indian market by conducting survey and
analysing the future of cruise tourism in India
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CHAPTER –VI
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SWOT ANALYSIS
Globally, cruise tourism is one of the most dynamic and fastest growing sectors in leisure
industry. India with its vast and long coastline, unexplored islands could be a high potential
tourist destination for inbound cruise tourists. India is emerging as hotspots for cruise tourism
and there has been a steady increase in the number of ships and cruise passengers calling on
Indian ports over the past few years, as against 55 cruise ship calls in the year 2003-04, the
number of cruise ship calls increased to 166 in the year 2016-17. Further, the number of
cruise passengers also increased from 28,000 in the year 2003-04 to 1,91,835 passengers in
the year 2016-17 . Further, recently Mumbai Port has made a debut as home port for the
luxury cruise liners.
Strengths
• Of the various international ports in India, 5 major ports are presently handling cruise
passengers
• The ports are strategically located on the East and West coast of India
Weaknesses
Opportunities
• Fast growing component of leisure travel segment worldwide with enormous potential
to earn forex
Threats
• Weaker market positioning as cruise tourism hotspot when compared to the top cruise
destinations in Asia & South Pacific, Caribbean, Australia & New Zealand
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CHAPTER -VII
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FINDINGS
Labour Shortage although the cruise industry is well-known for its globalised workforces
onboard yet labour shortage has become one of their weaknesses that might harm the cruise
liners or even the cruise industry itself (Gibson, 2008; Terry, 2011; Larsen et al., 2012).
Burke (2009) had identified that mistreat of cruise employees is part of the labour issues that
lead to labour shortages in this industry as cruise liners will have a chance to escape from
labour laws when they registered their cruises and company in foreign countries.
Additionally, Larsen et al. (2012) also reveal that jobs onboard is considered as very isolated
as compared to others whereby the employees have no choice, but to be cut off from any
recreational activities, their own families and friends. Indeed, low work engagement, job
autonomy and departmental resources will lead to low employee retention.
Negative Perceptions towards Cruising One of the most common negative perceptions
towards cruise tourism would be the safety issues of the cruises due to the emergent of cruise
incidents recently. In fact, these cruise incidents have negatively impacted on the demand for
cruise tourism as well as the prices for the cruise tour. For instance, the demand for cruise
tourism was found approximately 15% to 20% in the weeks after the cruise incident of Costa
Concordia that stranded off the coast of Isola del Giglio, Italy on 13th of January 2014 (CBC
News, 2012). Another negative perception towards cruising will be misperception of the
customer whom portrait cruises as a cheap and gambling focus excursion, especially for the
Asian market (Golden, 2013). Asian always have the conservative thought that assumed
onboard casino as the main attraction that commonly used to promote a particular cruise or
cruise liner yet this is not the case. Piracy Externally, piracy also has been identified as one of
the threats that create risks for a cruise industry (Dowling, 2006; Global Travel Industry
News, 2009; Bundhun, 2011). According to a report presented by Statista (2013), the statistic
of pirate attacks was the highest in year 2010 recorded 445 cases. Although the number of
pirate attacks reduced to 297 in year 2012 yet it does create a threat towards the safety of the
cruise industry (Dowling, 2006). Indeed, the primary routes of international cruising as well
as the geographical location of piracy include the Indian Ocean, Straits of Malacca, Red Sea
or Horn of Africa, and Indonesian and Malaysian waters which contributed to the areas of
concern in the cruise industry (Global Travel Industry News, 2009; Dowling, 2006). This
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factor will then take into consideration of the cruise liners when designing on the itinerary of
the cruises as well as when consider a cruise destination due to the reason that passenger
Safety and security are always the primary concerns of them, says Sasso as the chairman of
the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) in the Global Travel Industry News
(2009).
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SUGGESTION
Overall, there are several great opportunities that can be ride on using the strengths that are
currently available in the industry or market. On the other hand, the government and cruise
operators should also take into consideration of overcoming the threats that posed by the
environment and the industry itself. It is very crucial for all the stakeholders and shareholders
of the cruise industry in India to work together for future development and sustainability. In
terms of threats such as the negative perception, threats of substitute tourism products and
piracy, the government might look into the reinforcement of government policy regarding the
safety and security of India waters in order to minimise or avoid from severe piracy.
Moreover, the cruise liners may try to improve on the perceptions of people towards cruising
in Malaysia or other regions. Perhaps, this can be done through educating the public or
market with more specific knowledge about cruising or through a properly plan media and
social network as the societies now are much influenced by the media and social networks in
their daily life. All in all, there are rooms for the cruise industry India to further develop and
sustain in the industry. However, this is only provided when the cruise operators, port
authorities, communities, and the government are to work together in planning and strategy
developments.
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CONCLUSION
Conclusion
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For India to develop its cruise industry, port infrastructure is of prime importance. Infrastructural
developments need to pick up the pace at various ports, prioritising the existing major ports, which are
already ports-of-call for foreign cruise vessels. Moreover, passenger facilities at all major ports are
necessary for cruise ships to berth; this will also allow passengers to visit the port city, in turn
increasing tourism for India.
Hence, instead of developing the ports merely as cruise terminals, the government should consider
developing these as ‘port destinations’. There is also a need to promote river cruises to complement
coastal ones. River cruises plying on India’s National Waterways will complement Coastal Cruise
Tourism. Vessels can be reconfigured as ‘River-Sea Vessels’, suitable for both rivers and the sea,
which can then help to integrate cruise tourism as a whole. At present, the various projects and
initiatives do complement one another’s development, but integrating them completely is what India
needs. For instance, the ‘Skill India’ initiative can be incorporated to create awareness about the
cruise tourism industry. Likewise, the “Digital India’ campaign can be used to market the potential of
the cruise industry in India, while organizing and conducting workshops for the various other
industries that constitute a part of the cruise industry. A holistic approach needs to be adopted by
India, to be able to fully tap the potential that the domestic cruise sector quite clearly possesses.
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BIBILOGRHPHY
BIBILOGRHPHY
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KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government. (2002). The KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Act of
2006 as amended in 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2006, from
http://www.kzn.org.za/kzn/kznta/5.xml.
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