Ganga Vilas sails today: Here is what the Varanasi-Dibrugarh cruise offers tourists

The route

Set to sail from Varanasi, the cruise ship, MV Ganga Vilas, will cover 3,200 km over 51 days, crossing 27 river systems and several states before ending its journey at Dibrugarh. The voyage is packed with visits to 50 tourist spots, including World Heritage spots, national parks, river ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Guwahati in Assam.

It will make pit-stops to cover the famous Ganga Arti in Varanasi, the Buddhist site of Sarnath; and even Majuli, the largest river island in Assam. The travellers will also visit the Bihar School Of Yoga and Vikramshila University. The cruise will traverse through the Sunderbans in the Bay of Bengal delta, as well as the Kaziranga National Park.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is the coordinator of this ship tourism project. While speaking on the safety of the tourists travelling through the international borders of India and Bangladesh, Union Minister for Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, said, “All the facilities and security protocols have been taken care of for the tourists. The Government of India is taking several steps to promote cruise tourism in the country.”

The maiden voyage has 32 tourists from Switzerland signing up for the entire length of the journey.

Even as the tourists boarded the cruise on January 10, they have spent the first two days in local sightseeing.

The cruise liner

The vessel has three decks,18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the luxury amenities.The maiden voyage has 32 tourists from Switzerland signing up for the entire length of the journey. It will cost approximately Rs 25,000 per person per day.

While it will be managed by private operators, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), under the Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways (MoPSW), has supported the project.

The vessel has three decks,18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the luxury amenities.

The operator has told The Indian Express that they have already planned MV Ganga Vilas’s next voyage for the month of September this year, and bookings will open shortly. The tickets can be booked from the website of Antara river cruises.

River tourism

Highlighting the need to develop river cruise tourism in the country, Union Shipping & Ports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the sector would generate employment opportunities in the hinterland. He said the river tourism circuits will be developed and integrated with the existing tourism circuits for maximum exposure and rapid development of this sector in the country.

The 51-day cruise, being pitched as the world’s longest river cruise, is expected to reach its final destination — Dibrugarh in Assam — on March 1.

In India, eight river cruise vessels are operational between Kolkata and Varanasi while cruise movement is also operation on National Waterways 2 (Brahmaputra), the government statement said.

The government of India has taken several initiatives to boost the country’s cruise tourism industry, including infrastructure upgrades, rationalisation of port fees, removal of ousting charges, priority berthing for cruise ships, and the provision of e-visa facilities. India aims to increase cruise passenger traffic from 0.4 million at present to 4 million. The economic potential of cruise tourism is expected to rise from $110 million to $5.5 billion in the coming years.