Puducherry opens sea lanes for tourists for the first time

The Union Territory is set to open up its sea lanes to tourists from Friday with the territorial administration giving its approval for a luxury cruise liner with over 1,500 passengers to berth near the coast and making arrangements for travellers to take a quick sight-seeing tour of important destinations in this former French enclave.

The 210.8-metre-long M/V Empress, operated by cruise brand Cordelia Cruises, is all to anchor one km away from the Puducherry shoreline at around 6.30 a.m. on Friday with 1,231 passengers and 574 crew members as part of cruise liner’s latest itinerary for travel bugs.

The cruise liner had made attempts two years ago for a similar anchorage near Puducherry coast during the same time of the year, but permission was not granted due to administrative reasons.

“This time, we have decided to give the nod as the Union government considers cruise tourism an important aspect to boost travel economy. The cruise liner will be also anchoring at our coast on July 11 and 18 as part of another travel itinerary. Cordelia management offers to de-board tourists from the ship after its arrival on our coast and interested travellers will be taken to the shore in their boats,” an official told The Hindu.

The boats available in the cruise will be berthed at Puducherry New Port around 10 a.m. The travellers will be taken to the yard inside the port and after security clearance they will be boarded on to the buses arranged by the Pondicherry Tourism Development Corporation.

Minister for Tourism K. Lakshminarayanan said luxury buses have been arranged for taking the tourists to Auroville, The Ashram, Manakula Vinayagar Temple, and Paradise Beach. The PTDC would be able to generate revenue on the services provided to the cruise travellers while they were on the shore, he said.

“After providing air connectivity for tourists, the government has opened up the sea lanes for visitors. It will certainly trigger more economic activity and provide job opportunities for the local people as luxury cruise travellers are high-spending tourists. The government has taken all security precautions. Each of the travellers de-boarding the cruise will be well-accounted by the police and the immigration officials,” the Minister said.

The arrival of the cruise liner, according to an official would help the Port Department net direct revenue from waterfront charges for berthing tender boats, godown charges and parking dues. As the ship has plenty of onboard entertainment, only a relatively smaller proportion of passengers are expected to register for a shore visit during a cruise schedule. “We will be happy if more tourists venture out,” officials said.

“We are prepared to handle around 400 passengers from the cruise. Berthing facility has been made available at the Port after moving out some vessels berthed for maintenance works. The operation of the cruise from our coast will certainly bring in more revenue to us. We expect more cruises to make Puducherry a part of their itinerary,” the official said.

Mr. Lakshminarayanan said Puducherry would be the seventh cruise destination in the country and the second Union Territory to offer berthing facility for luxury liners as part of tourism promotion. “Some people have raised concerns about berthing of a luxury liner on the coast. No resident of Puducherry was allowed to board the ship from here. People travelling in the ship are either foreigners or from the rest of the country,” he added.