Cruise Tourism in India essay
Today India is experiencing success in many spheres of economy and is rapidly gaining the leading positions in the world rates. Among other industries leisure activities are steadily advanced, and touristic business is becoming more and more sustainable. On the one hand, the local authorities have realized how tourism can stimulate economic and social development in the country. On the other hand, India is truly a country with a great potential regarding its location, natural diversity, rich historical and cultural heritage and, of course, vast sea spaces surrounding the land (7,517 kilometers long coastline). In this way, tourism has been provided with a priority platform in the local strategies of economic development. In the meantime, it is not enough to succeed in traditional touristic entertainments. It is vitally important to be sensitive and responsive to the global trends and demands, and one of the broad avenues required to follow is now cruise tourism. While it is already highly popular and rapidly growing in the rest of the civilized world, especially in the North America, India has been missing out the potential it already possesses: first, it is located on the crossroad of the most significant international sea routes; second, its terrific coastline makes up more than seven and a half thousand kilometers of length; third, there are already natural seaports to start from; and, certainly, India has enough breathtaking destination not to fall apart in attracting tourists from the different corners of the world. Therefore, there is a unique opportunity to join this highly promising industry at the moment and to gain the winning positions until it has not been done by other companies. Herein, this report will scrutinize the existing market within cruise tourism industry; analyze its structure and value in order to see all the advantages and disadvantages of participation; study the strategies of operators already working in the field and the most crucial characteristics of the competitive environment in order to make clearer conclusions on the potential of the market and to work out probable recommendations for advance.
- Market Growth and Direction
- Statistical Highlights
It is common knowledge that India belongs to the Asia-Pacific region. This region is now effectively responding to the global cruise tourism activities. The South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Far East and Trans-Pacific territories, making up the Asia-Pacific region, have experienced a 134% growth between 1992 and 2001 and the figure of income has reached 2.1 million nights, with a global market share of 3.5%. The Indian Ocean and the Arabian Gulf are now strongly emerging, with the growth of 88% in 2000, though the share was only 0.38% of world night stays growing at that time. In fact, market share of cruise tourism is rather small: in 2000 there were only 0.056 million cruise visitors in India, which is only 2.11% of all the 2.65 million tourists coming from different corners of the world to the country. The trends of cruise tourists in India in the first decade of the twenty first century can be seen.
- Advantages of the Market
At the moment only 0.5% of the India’s foreign arrivals are constituted by cruise arrivals, but the overall increase in tourist visits is obvious and promising. It seems reasonable to present the structure of the cruise market as a combination of two spheres. On the one hand, India can be used as a worthy destination by the cruise operators from other countries, and thus it becomes necessary to develop all the services for tourists coming by cruise ships. This is a worthy field as the global operators and liners are passionately seeking new destinations, markets and itineraries. On the other hand, India can develop its own domestic cruise sector and provide cruise services for the population as well as for tourists coming with different purposes. It is achievable firstly due to the overall strong domestic tourism sector of the country. The structure can be also based on the criterion of the source of demand for the cruise tourism. These are four major segments: the foreign tourists; the Indian outbound tourists; the Indian domestic leisure tourists and the current cruise tourists (both international and Indian). In 2009 there were about 50,000 Indians set sail on different cruises. As it can be seen from the Figure 2, the growth of market size was expected to reach 184,710 cruise tourists in 2011 and by the year 2030-2031 the size of cruise market is expected to become 1.2 million cruise tourists.
In fact, there are international cruise liners that are now interested in India and understand its great potential: the Star Cruises, the Royal Caribbean International, Princess Group, Dubai Cruise Terminal are among the leaders. These are already well-known companies and it is crucial to outrun them.
- Industry Drivers
- Frontline Stakeholders’ Strategies
The frontline stakeholders of the cruise terminals in India are Ministry of Shipping, Central and State Ministry of Tourism, and private agencies. The segment of private agencies includes cruise lines and cruise operators, ship agents, tour operators, ship chandlers and provision suppliers. The most well-known port operator is Adami Ports in Gujarat. The most appreciated cruise operators at the moment are Goa Sea & River Cruises and the Kerala Backwaters cruise. The former is the most popular with the domestic tourists, while the latter is mostly preferred by the foreign tourists. The synergies of building cruise terminals are now explored by the hoteliers the Taj Group, the Oberoi Group, the Leela Palace and Resorts and others. As for large tourism entrepreneurs, these are the Muthoot Group and the Reliance Group.
The existing operators struggle for making the brand cruise India the umbrella brand, and the most spread messages are, on the one hand, concentrated on the convenience of multifunctional program and, on the other hand, the attractiveness of destinations: ‘more for less’, ‘value for money’, ‘diversity in harmony’, ‘must see’, ‘safe friendly’. Those operators who are more focused on domestic outbound tourists tend to base their circuits on foreign and exotic destination, while those operators who focus on tourists from abroad base their circuits on the historical values, world heritage and health.
- Gaining Competitive Advantage
In order to gain competitive advantage, it would be rational to pay more attention to river cruises, as this subdivision is even less developed, but it can seriously complement and even strengthen the overall cruise tourism development. To become popular, these river cruises should connect the most fascinating and the most significant destinations within the continent. For example, the key destination of the Buddhist pilgrimage is Sarnath and it is situated at the bank of the Ganges River, the sacred river for the Indian nation. It would be useful here to examine the Inland Water Transport development plan proposed by the Indian Ministry of Shipping. The cruise destinations in the Indian Ocean are reflected.
In addition, there are two more sectors to cooperate with. These are ecotourism and rural tourism, both becoming popular at the moment, but still lacking enough investors and researchers. These two sectors are now at the priority platform in India and they are found highly attractive for foreign tourists, so it would be highly beneficial to apply their opportunities in the development of cruise itineraries.
In the meantime, the existing operators lack effective media campaigns, therefore leadership can be won by participation in various worldwide programs and forums; to create visibility through indoor and outdoor advertising, audio- visual presentations and films, printed products (attractive leaflets, brochures, posters, hand-outs) and organize exhibitions, conferences and other events to promote the brand. There are a lot of other opportunities (like the International Sea Trade Shipping conferences and conventions, various trade shows and fairs, and so on).
- Competitive Environment
- Consumer Profiling
In 2008 the Indian government approved the Cruise Shipping Policy in order to develop the country both as Source and Destination Market, to stimulate cruise ship calls and passenger arrivals in a sustainable manner.
Further on, demographic characteristics of the Indian population are highly favorable for the development of the cruise tourism. As cruise is not a cheap entertainment, this sector is highly dependent on the nation’s incomes and paying abilities. In 2004 the amount of the people referred to the middle class made up more than 150 million, while there are more than 200 rupee millionaires. It is also reported that 22% of the Indians spend more than $2000 per trip when they travel abroad, and thus tourism here is the third highest revenue-generating market.
What is more, a number of surveys conducted among the Indian tourists and local population have shown that the advantages of cruise tourism (opportunity to see many places at once, exclusiveness and the level of service etc.) make the sector rather appealing for both domestic and foreign tourists. According to the surveys, the best ports in India are Goa, Cochin and Mumbai, but at the same time there is still much to invest in to improve the conditions of the cruise entertainments.
- Winning Consumers
To make the potential consumers switch from the existing operators, the new agent should have strong advantages. Many current complaints are connected with the harassment at the ports and other discomforts faced by the clients due to the lack of organization and order, lack of streamline clearance and baggage services at the customs. One of the methods to improve the situation is to provide more electronic equipment for dealing with all that passenger stuff in order to simplify the procedures of control and pass.
As viability of cruise terminals is highly significant for attracting and satisfying the tourists, there may be a need for support from the state. There may be applications to the local government for a kind of subsidy or other funding measures to overcome viability gap and legislation as for privatization of the ports may be changed or modified correspondingly.
- Future Development
- Potential of the Sector
The entry point, the first experience and thus the promotional platform of each cruise circuit is the cruise port. It is critical to create a positive image of a port when starting a cruise. The greatest potential for cruise tourism is probably possessed by the ports of Kerala, Goa and Chennai. However, Indian ports are just the factor which needs to be revolutionized in order to make the road for the cruise business free. Ports are naturally the core infrastructure requirement of the cruise tourism sector, and the Indian ports have to be improved to meet the international standards. Passenger services and commodities, linkages, conveniences, and amenities for the cruise tourists should fit the standards, and this condition is almost lacking today in India. The imperative for stimulating incomes in cruise tourism is to develop quality cruise terminals first of all. It has been calculated that in case of developing new berth, the investment would require about Rs. 105 crores (approximately $40 million) per each terminal, and in case of renovating the existing berth the investment would require Rs. 70 crores (approximately $20 million) per each terminal.
- Favorable Conditions
To be more specific, there are certain locations where the building of the dedicated cruise terminals seems to be the most favorable. These are the port facilities at Mumbai, Cochin, Chennai, Mangalore, Tuticorin and Goa and Upgrade. The first two and the latter are associated with the beauties of such exotic places as Chennai and Lakshadweep and Andamans. Apart from that, it seem perspective to explore the potential of less popular ports including Vishakapatnam, Calcutta and Paradeep (the East Coast) and Porbandar and Kandla (the West Coast).
Concurrently, there would be no excuse to forget about the well-trained personnel. The quality of service to 60% depends on the level of the personnel, and to 30% on the tangible resources. The rest 10% are other mere factors. It would be beneficial to provide training programs for every specialist engaged in the process, including the staff at information kiosks, travel agents and tour guides, shopkeepers and baggage handling staff as well as the entire crew serving at the ship. The key training points should be: awareness, accountability and transparency, knowledge and skill, communication and hospitability, safety and security. Environmental issues should also be taken to account.
Conclusions
The research has shown that India has a lot of opportunities for the development of cruise tourism. Geographical and demographic situation are favorable for the profitable cruise tourism business, and this fact is already realized my many international tourism operators and cruise liners. India turns out to be attractive as a destination for the foreign cruisers and at the same time it has much to offer as the starting point for its domestic tourists and guests of the country. In particular, India is rich in historical religious, spiritual and cultural sights; its nature conditions are unique and landscapes are really picturesque with its vast coastlines and virgin forests. Many of the areas are almost undisturbed and thus present incomparable opportunities for having rest and escaping from the burdens of civilization. Concurrently, the paying capacity of the Indian population is growing and disposable incomes make them more demanding and searching for diversity in leisure activities. Despite those obvious advantages, the cruise industry is still in the infancy in India. The main obstacle on that way is weak development of the major ports, so there is an urgent need to reconstruct them and to make them serve as a perfect entry for each tourist going on a cruise trip. To build and to equip adequate cruise terminals at the strategically important ports, fund-rising programs should be worked out and implemented, probably with the assistance of the state. The advantage is that the local government realizes the perspective of cruise business for social and economic development of the state and seems to be friendly and responsive to the initiatives in this field.
Recommendations
In order to succeed and stay competitive, it is necessary to care about the reinforcement of port development. The issues of security and facilitation should be addressed, and the terminal plans should be performed after consulting the world leaders in cruise industry. What is more, it would be beneficial to initiate further feasibility studies and structure bankable public-private partnership options. Further on, cruise design, themes and logistics should be linked to both foreign destinations and coastal destinations of India, and the dedicated funds intended for the hinterland tourism advancement should be received from the Ministry of Tourism, as it corresponds to the recently adopted program of local tourism development. Moreover, it would be beneficial to concentrate on the development of river cruises and to cooperate with the operators of the rural and ecological tourism. One more step to take is to seek for alliance with other Indo-Asian shipping players.
