Event Round Up

Focus on capacity building in cruise tourism

India records over 300 per cent increase in cruise tourism visitors between 2002-2006

Speaking at the inaugural session of the conference on 'Initiatives on Furthering Cruise Tourism in India', S Banerjee, secretary tourism, Government of India, said that with the recent approval of the policy on cruise shipping, the latter's latent potential can now be tapped. According to him, cruise tourism is a relatively new but emerging sector. It is a niche market and is primarily associated with potential for stimulating economic growth and generating additional employment. He mentioned that the high potential of cruise tourism is strongly borne by one's own experience, where India recorded a 310 per cent increase in cruise tourism visitors between 2002-2006. The crux of Banerjee's speech was as follows:

"Worldwide, tourism has emerged as a key player in development strategies. Appropriately leveraged, the tourism sector has high potential for delivering sustainable growth with equity, while ensuring economic progress. As per projections of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) for 2008, the contribution of tourism to world GDP and employment were at 9.9 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively. World tourism, measured in terms of foreign tourist arrivals, grew at 6.6 per cent in 2007 as compared to 5.5 per cent in 2006. In absolute terms, international tourist arrivals in 2007 reached 903 million.

Within the Asia & Pacific region, India surpassed the regional average in terms of growth in Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE). While arrivals grew at 14.3 per cent, receipts from tourism increased at 24.3 per cent in 2007. In absolute terms, 5.08 million foreign tourists visited India and spent US$ 10.73 billion in 2007. As per the UNWTO report on 'Worldwide Cruise Ship Activities' in the year 2000, cruise demand in the world was about 10 million trips with North America accounting for almost two-third of it, followed by the European market. That the rest of the world including India, accounted for a small share of this demand is an indication of its untapped potential for growth and expansion. For an overview of the cruise tourism sector in India, the ministry of tourism commissioned CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory for a study on 'Cruise Tourism Potential and Strategy'. As per its report (December 2005), India's cruise tourism potential is based on exotic and historic destinations, extensive coast lines, strong port positioning, and expanding domestic tourism sector. Its positioning in South East Asia would enable creation of cruise circuits that would include Singapore, Bangkok, Colombo and Dubai. The CRISIL report also emphasised that to benefit from these natural strengths, it would be crucial for India to draw lessons from global precedents in the cruise sector and integrate it with lessons from the tourism sector derived over the past decade. The other major recommendations of the report included building cruise terminals, creating and positioning the product. The focus has to be on capacity building and putting in place policies and institutions to support the cruise sector."