Cruise Tourism in India: Cruise traffic has potential to grow 10 times by next decade

For the leisure industry, ‘Cruise Tourism’ is one of the fastest growing and vibrant components worldwide and given India’s beautiful and vast coastline with undisturbed idyllic islands, virgin forests and cultural heritage, there is a tremendous potential in making it a magnificent destination for cruise tourism. The vision of the government is to make India a significant player in the global cruise market, for both river and ocean cruises. Driven by the rising demand and disposable incomes, the market has the potential to grow by 10X over the next decade. With the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, India has enhanced its focus on the Cruise sector by actively promoting cruise tourism for infrastructure development, vast economic impact and the potential to create lots of jobs.

The Union Minister for ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal recently said that the Indian cruise traffic has the potential to grow 10 times due to India’s growing economy and higher disposable income. After two years of pandemic-induced slow-down, the global cruise shipping business would stage up to make a comeback.

The cruise business had grown 35 per cent year-on-year to 0.4 million in 2018-19, where around 200 ships had visited India that year but suffered serious financial setbacks during the pandemic.

After the pandemic, there has been positive traction as many enquiries have been received from global cruise operators to operate both in the river and sea segments.

The Incredible India International Cruise Conference 2022 objectives would be to disseminate the information about India’s preparedness for developing the Cruise Tourism sector and present an overview of the many and varied facilities and attractions, to both Operators and Cruise Lines that India has to offer.