Luxury ferry in Goa

Travel agents can make bulk bookings for their clients in advance through a separate login access to book and pay for seats on the new luxury ferry by Drishti Marine.

HAZEL JAIN

Goa’s Drishti Marine has recently launched premium passenger ferry services within Goa for tourists as well as locals on two luxurious 40-seater, high-speed catamarans. In the first phase, Drishti Marine commenced operations between the Airport Ferry Terminal (AFT) Vasco, Panaji and Old Goa. Phase two included Baga and Fort Aguada.

Savio Mathias, Vice President – Business Development, Drishti Marine, shares details about how they have worked with travel agents for this. “Drishti Ferry is an exciting experience that travel agents can suggest to their clients. We are jointly working with several travel agencies in Goa and other cities to provide the best packages to tourists and corporates who plan on visiting Goa,” he says. The company is also working closely with Goa Tourism Development Corporation. “The tourism board sees us as their long-term associate in their offer to promote tourism in Goa. We believe that Goa will continue to see an explosive rise in tourism, and providing an alternate water-based transportation will share the load of the additional traffic. The full effectiveness of our service will be felt only once all the floating jetties and routes are operational. We will also have special services catering only to the MICE market,” Mathias says.

The ferries have plush seating, bathrooms, charging points and safety belts. Air conditioned passenger lounge and waiting areas, on board baggage assistance with free Wi-Fi and packaged F&B are available on-board. The crew on-board include trained lifeguards. Tickets can be booked online and can also be purchased at the time of boarding at the terminals. The services will be shut from June to September.

Mathias adds, “Drishti intends to set up Temporary Floating Jetties across Goa’s beautiful waterfronts. The units for these jetties have already been procured and are in Goa. A key component of our vision is to ensure that everything we do is in harmony with the environment.”