Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will next week flag off the world’s “longest river cruise” in a bid to boost inland maritime connectivity in the country, Sarbananda Sonowal, the country's Ports, Shipping and Waterways minister, said on Sunday.
According to the minister's statement, the cruise will kickstart its maiden journey from Varanasi, located on the banks of the Ganges, on January 13. The three-deck cruise vessel is reportedly 62 meters long and 12 meters wide.
The 51-day 3,200-kilometer-long trip will culminate in Dibrugarh in the north-eastern state of Assam. Dibrugarh is located on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, which enters India from China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. The cruise will also travel through Bangladesh.
Both the Ganges and the Brahmaputra flow onwards to Bangladesh, where the rivers join together to form a single river system before flowing into the Bay of Bengal.
The Indian statement said that the cruise will travel through 27 different river systems (all part of either the Ganges or the Brahmaputra watershed) and make stops at major tourist hotspots located on the banks of the two rivers, including some UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Sonowal said that the luxury cruise will not only boost inland river connectivity and tourism, but also provide a major fillip to India’s ‘Act East Policy’. Launched by Prime Minister Modi in 2014, this policy seeks to promote economic cooperation between India and other countries in the Asia-Pacific through bolstering connectivity. India’s north-eastern region, which comprises seven states, is deemed as being crucial for promoting the Act East Policy initiative due to its location at the borders of China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
India Upbeat About Prospects of River Tourism
Sonowal has expressed hope that the new cruise liner “will enthuse entrepreneurs to explore river cruise in other parts of the country,” according to the statement.
At present, eight river cruises are operational between Varanasi and the eastern seaport of Kolkata (both on the banks of the Ganges), with short cruises also operating on the Brahmaputra River.
The Indian statement also painted an optimistic picture of the global river cruise market, which it noted has grown by around five percent in the last few years. It said that river cruises will constitute around 37 percent of the overall cruise market by 2027.