KOCHI: To discuss the steps to be taken for promoting cruise tourism in India, the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Cruise Shipping will meet here on November 4. The committee, comprising officials of the Union Ministry of Shipping and the Members of Parliament will look into the issues being faced by the cruise shipping industry in the country.“The meeting is being convened to review how effective are the proposals in the Cruise Shipping Policy prepared in 2007 was. The ministry has identified five major ports - Mumbai, Goa, Mangalore, Kochi and Chennai- that could be developed as cruise shipping locations. Steps to be taken to attract more cruise vessels to these destinations will also be discussed,” said Union Shipping Secretary K Mohandas.Prepared in 2007, the Cruise Shipping Policy aimed at increasing India’s share of cruise tourism industry which stands at $14 billion (`59,780 crore). The global cruise shipping industry is growing 12 per cent a year with a passenger base of 10 million. However, India’s share in this is only 2 per cent.Asked about the plans to introduce reduction in charges, Mohandas said such decisions have to be taken by the respective ports. “The Consultative Committee will not take any decision but will discuss the issues in the industry,” he said.It is learnt that the committee will look into the reason why shipping companies stopped their operation after adopting some ports as their bases in India. Louis Cruise, a Cyprus-based cruise shipping company, which started services with Kochi as its home port had stopped services citing high port charges.Louis Cruise’s vessel mv Aquamarine was conducting three services - Kochi-Colombo-Kochi, Kochi-Maldives-Kochi and the one-night Kochi High Sea - in a week. The vessel had started service on December 1, 2009, and wound up by the end of January. This month, Chennai-based Amet Cruises launched its operations in Kochi.
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