India climbs up the cruise ladder

Despite being a late bloomer in cruise tourism, India has climbed up to the 6th position in Asia. Peter Kollar, Head of International Training & Development, Cruise Lines International Association, gives a status quo.

The latest cruise passenger numbers that were revealed by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) recently indicate a rapid growth from the India market. Figures show that it now ranks sixth in all Asian markets with 172,300 passengers. This is almost 4 per cent of the total Asians cruising right now. However, there was reportedly a six per cent decline in cruise visits in 2018 scheduled into Indian ports. Any further increase will depend on whether the fly-cruise product will continue its growth in this sector of travel.

In terms of Asia, just over four million Asians took a cruise in 2017, which now accounts for 15.3 per cent of the 26.7 million passengers worldwide. This is the highest market share ever for Asians, with 59 per cent of the passengers coming just from mainland China.

So much untapped potential

While 2019 deployments look like the ships are coming back to record levels visits to the region, there is still opportunity this year for Indians to take advantage of some very strong cruise hubs close by such as Singapore, which has more ships and variety in its ports than ever before.

Another opportunity to increase the numbers of Indians cruising is to tap the growing domestic sector. Historically, every nation that has grown its cruising market has done so on the back of strong domestic seasons. This means more visits by ships in the region – particularly with turnaround options.

Currently, Mumbai is the only port scheduled for turnarounds this year (nine cruises) and will see the most calls at 48, followed by 32 in Cochin. However, India ranks 12^th of all Asian cruise destination markets with just 2 per cent of Asia’s total calls. The government’s initiatives towards Mumbai, Chennai and Cochin in particular to develop local cruise ports is much appreciated and in need. Mumbai is currently ranked 36^th in Asia for volume of port cruise traffic. It is to be noted that numbers were finalised before MSC’s announcement two weeks ago about December sailings into Mumbai.