New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to flag off the world’s longest river cruise, the ‘MV Ganga Vilas’, on Friday (13 January). The luxury river cruise will go from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh, over a course of 51 days.
The trip, which will ‘herald a new age of river cruise tourism’ for India, will cover approximately 3,200 kilometres – covering 27 rivers and five states in India and Bangladesh. It is set to arrive in Dibrugarh on 1 March.
The cost of the entire cruise is $153,000 or Rs 12.59 lakh (approx) for one passenger, and comes to around $300 or Rs 25,000 for a night per person. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal, said the fare is same for both Indians and non-Indians.
The cruise ship is 62 metres-long, 12 metres-wide, has three decks to soak in some sunshine, 18 luxury suites and can ferry 36 passengers.
“The huge untapped potential of river cruise is set to get unlocked with the launch of this service…Our rich heritage will get further transcended in the global stage as tourists will be able to experience the spiritual, the educational, the cultural as well as the richness of the biodiversity of India. From Kashi to Sarnath, from Majuli to Mayong, from Sunderbans to Kaziranga, this cruise packs an experience of a lifetime,” said Sonowal.
For its maiden run, the cruise has 36 Swiss tourists onboard. According to reports, the cruise has been fully booked for the next two years.
The central government will also construct a ship repair facility at the Pandu terminal under the Cochin Shipyard Limited in Kerala in order to assist vessel operators during the course of the trip. The ship is fitted with pollution-free mechanisms and noise control technologies.
The itinerary
PM Narendra Modi had spoken about the luxury cruise on 30 December, while flagging off other projects in West Bengal via video conferencing.
“This will be a unique cruise in the world and a reflection of growing cruise tourism in India. I request the people of West Bengal to take the benefit of this,” the PM had said.
The cruise, which was first announced in 2018, was expected to be launched in 2020 but it was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The cruise package also includes sightseeing expeditions to places of historical, cultural and religious importance in India and Bangladesh. The ship is set to cruise through 50 prominent tourist destinations, including in Patna, Sahibganj, Kolkata, Dhaka and Guwahati.
The ship will depart from Varanasi after offering a view of the iconic ‘Ganga Aarti’ before making a stop at Sarnath, a sacred Buddhist pilgrimage site.
Other places where it will stop include Majuli and Mayong in Assam. While the former is one of the largest river islands in the world and a center of Vaishnavite culture, the latter is famed for its tantric craft.
The trip also includes a visit to the Kaziranga National Park, the place of the famed one-horned rhinos and the Sunderbans, a world heritage site in the Bay of Bengal delta that extends up to Bangladesh.
The Ganga Vilas cruise will also include music and cultural activities, a fitness centre, spa, outdoor observation deck, and butler service for tourists.
Future of river cruises in India
Backed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) under the Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways (MoPSW), the voyage on the MV Ganga Vilas is touted as the first of its kind – the success of which might prompt further investment by business owners in river cruises across the country, an official press release stated.
This can also be a boon to the country’s economy since connectivity across inland waterways will lead to increased capital investment.
Government reports have projected that by 2027, river cruises would account for 37 per cent of the total cruise market worldwide, after an annual growth of 5 per cent over the past several years. In India, eight river cruise vessels ply between Kolkata and Varanasi, and cruise traffic is active on National Waterways 2 where development is currently underway on 10 passenger terminals.
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