Call to hold talks with operators to showcase Vizag as cruise destination

Visakhapatnam Littoral Cruise Tourism India Conclave-2022, which was held here on Friday, has called for a cruise policy and preparatory work to promote emerging cruise destinations like Visakhapatnam.

in his keynote address at the event organised by Littoral Communications, K. Vijay Mohan, president of Tours and Travel Association of Andhra (TTAA) expressed satisfaction over the decision of the Government of India to develop a cruise terminal at Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) and hoped that as part of a proactive approach, before the completion of the terminal, the tourism authorities should hold talks with the cruise liners to explore including Visakhapatnam in their itinerary.

Vijay Mohan, who is also a member of Visakhapatnam Airport Advisory Committee, said to make Visakhapatnam a world-class tourism hub, it is the imperative need to promote not only sea cruise but also to introduce river cruise in Papikondalu and other picturesque locations. He said all the stakeholders including the travel operators should be consulted before framing a cruise policy and saw big scope to introduce cruise service from Visakhapatnam to Singapore and Bangkok.

Capt. Pritam Mohanty, Deputy Conservator and Head of Marine Services of Gangavaram Port Limited, said there is huge scope to attract cruise tourists to Visakhapatnam because of valley and 30-km stretch of beachfront from Visakhapatnam to 17th century Dutch township of Bheemunipatnam.

Deepak Joshi, Business Development Lead, Triton (Cyprus) explained how they provide health service to the crew and tourists of various ships including cruise liners.

Raja Vaiz, Chairman, Littoral Communications, said they are one of the leading organisers of maritime events and mentioned that they will be conducting the Littoral India UAE Summit in Dubai on December 15. They have already held events like the 3rd edition of LIttoral Future Maritime Studies in Mumbai and Littoral Tamil Nadu Tourism-2022 in Chennai.

Heritage activist Jayashree and business consultant Sohan Hatangadi spoke on promotion of sustainable tourism infrastructure.