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Source: The post is based on the article “World’s longest river cruise ‘Ganga Vilas’ to unlock River Cruise tourism in India: Union Minister for Ports” published in PIB on 7th January 2023
What is the News?
The MV Ganga Vilas will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi.
What is MV Ganga Vilas?
MV Ganga Vilas is the world’s longest river cruise.
Features: The cruise ship has three decks and 18 suites, which can house 36 tourists.
– The ship will cover a journey of 3200 km in 50 days and pass through 27 river systems in India and Bangladesh.
– It will give tourists a chance to visit over 50 architecturally important places, including world heritage sites.
– The ship is equipped with pollution-free systems and noise control technology.
Significance: The MV Ganga Vilas cruise is a step towards unlocking the huge potential river tourism in the country has to offer.
About River Cruise Market in India
The global River cruise market has grown at ~5% over the last few years and is expected to constitute ~37% of the cruise market by 2027.
Europe has been driving growth with approximately 60% share of river cruise vessels in the world.
In India, 8 river cruise vessels are operational between Kolkata and Varanasi while cruise movement is also operational on National Waterways 2 (Brahmaputra).
As the capital expenditure is pumped to build capacity in the inland waterways, the river cruise is set to grow further with systematic forward and backward linkage for the economy, especially across the banks of the rivers.
