MV Vilas will unlock huge potential of river cruises in the region: India minister
The MV Ganga Vilas cruise will unlock the huge untapped potential of river cruises when it launches on January 13, India's Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said today.
Thirty-two tourists from Switzerland will be on board when the world's longest river cruise begins its first journey, he said.
The voyage of the luxury vessel will see the Swiss tourists relishing the 51-day Varanasi-to-Dibrugarh journey. The cruise will start from Varanasi on the River Ganga and will end in Dibrugarh on the River Brahmaputra.
The cruise will pass through Bangladesh during its journey. The expected date of arrival of MV Ganga Vilas in Dibrugarh is on March 1, 2023, according to Sonowal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the cruise from his parliamentary constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh state and the ship will cover a distance of more than 3,200 km across 27 river systems in five states in India and Bangladesh.
A huge untapped potential of river cruises is set to get unlocked with the launch of this service, Sonowal said.
"We are exploring the immense wealth that our rich river system has to offer.
This avenue of sustainable development via inland waterways has received a tremendous boost as efforts to augment cargo traffic as well as passenger tourism has borne fruit with encouraging results," according to Sonowal.
The 51-day cruise is planned with visits to 50 tourist spots including world heritage sites, national parks, river ghats, and major cities like Dhaka in Bangladesh, Kolkata in West Bengal, Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand and Guwahati in Assam.
The MV Ganga Vilas is 62 meters in length, and 12 meters in width, and comfortably sail with a draft of 1.4 meters.
It has three decks, and 18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists. The ship follows sustainable principles at its core as it is equipped with pollution-free mechanisms and noise control technologies. The itinerary of MV Ganga Vilas has been curated to showcase the rich cultural heritage of India with stopovers in spots of historical, cultural, and religious importance.
From the famous "Ganga Arti" in Varanasi, the ship will stop at Sarnath, a place of great reverence for Buddhism. It will also cover Majuli, the largest river island, and hub of Vaishnavite culture in Assam.
The travellers will also visit the Bihar School of Yoga and Vikramshila University. The cruise will also traverse through the biodiversity-rich world heritage sites of the Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal delta, famous for Royal Bengal Tigers, as well as Kaziranga National Park in Assam, famous for one-horn rhinos.
According to officials in New Delhi, the global river cruise market has grown by more than 5% over the last few years and is expected to constitute over 37% of the cruise market by 2027. Europe has been driving the growth with nearly 60% share of river cruise vessels in the world.