Tag Archives: Cruise

TravClan Collaborates with Resorts World Cruises to Provide Diverse Options for Indian holidaymakers

TravClan, a leading global B2B Travel Tech Platform, has announced its partnership with Resorts World Cruises. Known for its rich Asian heritage and unparalleled dedication to crafting bespoke international voyages, Resorts World Cruises is set to redefine luxury travel experiences. With this collaboration, TravClan is on a mission to make dreamy cruise getaways a reality for Indian families and adventure-seekers, all at prices that won’t break the bank.

TravClan and Resorts World Cruises’ partnership aims to democratize cruise tourism for Indian travellers, traditionally hindered by high costs and limited options for budget-conscious individuals. By providing a diverse array of cruise choices tailored to various traveller preferences, Resorts World Cruises is redefining the cruise experience as more accessible and inclusive. Beyond being a mere cruise brand, it specializes in crafting customized cruise lifestyle products, seamlessly blending luxury, adventure, and the exploration of global destinations.

Speaking about this, Chirag Agarwal, co-founder of TravClan, said, “Cruise tourism has long captivated Indian travellers, yet high costs have deterred many, particularly families, from indulging in this sought-after vacation option. According to industry data, only a fraction of Indian travellers opt for cruises, indicating a significant untapped market. Our groundbreaking alliance with Resorts World Cruises is poised to revolutionize this landscape, making the thrilling and unforgettable cruise experience accessible to all Indian holidaymakers. This collaboration is set to not only broaden their horizons but also significantly impact the cruise industry, tapping into the immense potential of the Indian market.”

Adding further, Naresh Rawal, Vice President of Sales for Resorts World Cruises, said, “With millions of outbound international travellers, India has an incredible market potential for the growth of cruise tourism especially among the millennials who are increasingly looking for novel and luxurious travel experiences. By partnering with TravClan, we hope to reach out to those millions of tourists and familiarize them with the diversity of our offerings. It is a win-win situation for all stakeholders, and we believe that this collaboration contributes to further growth of this sector in India.”

This partnership blends the essence of Resorts World Cruises’ opulent Asian legacy and its dedication to tailored luxury with TravClan’s worldwide proficiency and dedication to empowering travel agents. Beyond the conventional sale of cruise packages, this partnership is geared towards crafting unforgettable moments, discovering uncharted territories, and embracing the allure of marine luxury and exploration.

Club Med offers sailing experience on its French yacht Club Med 2

Club Med is offering intimate sailing experiences on their iconic French yacht – Club Med 2. As a part of Club Med’s Exclusive Collection – Club Med 2 – one of the world’s largest sailing yachts, has been revamped to offer a lavish experience reminiscent of the French Riviera.

According to a recent CLIA report, the number of Indians taking cruise holidays has increased by over 28% in the last three years. In response to these evolving trends, iconic vessels like Club Med 2 are continuously adapting, solidifying themselves as a compelling choice for the modern travellers.

Complete with a club lounge, two pools, and an expansive balcony suspended over the ocean, Club Med 2 offers an exclusive choice for Indian honeymooners, couples, and those planning their bachelor/bachelorette trips. It offers a tailored blend of experiences that encompass rejuvenating spa treatments, Heberson Yoga, and an array of water sports, from water-skiing to wing surfing and Tiwal sailing. With sailing itineraries spanning a 21-day cruise from Nice to Athens via Turkey, Israel, Egypt, and Greece, as well as shorter 4-day cruises in spring and autumn, Club Med 2 creates a unique fusion of tranquility and excitement beneath the starry night skies, making it the ultimate selection.

 

 

Govt sets up committee to create enabling eco-system to boost cruise tourism

Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said the government has set up a high-level committee to create an enabling eco-system for the development of cruise tourism in the country.

The committee comprises government officials and cruise industry players.

The minister said the government aims to make India the most attractive cruise tourism destination and the industry the world’s largest one in the world.

He also informed that the government has set up a Task Force under the Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and the Shipping secretary as its vice-chairman.

The high-level committee will assist the Task Force with its ideas and suggestions to the committee, he said.

“I declare the constitution of a High-level committee comprising both government officials and national and international industry players. It will assist the Taskforce and give it ideas and suggestions,” Sonowal told reporters.

Emphasising that the purpose of the international conference is to make India a cruise tourism hub, the minister said the government will provide whatever modern infrastructure is required to attain the objective.

He also expressed hope that the state governments will also play their role in the promotion of the industry, which is seeing demand coming back after being hit during the pandemic.

“India is going to be the most attractive destination of cruise tourism, and there is no doubt about it because whatever potential we have in the coastal areas and inland waterways are now set to be explored. It is still untapped. So, we will explore it with our most modern infrastructure,” Sonowal said.

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 go up from USD 110 million to USD 5.5 billion in the years to come, according to an official release.

To boost the cruise tourism industry in the country, the government has taken several initiatives, including infrastructure up-gradation, rationalisation of port fees, removing ousting charges, granting priority berthing to cruise ships, and providing e-visa facilities, among others, the release added.

Upgradation and modernisation are being carried out at seven major ports in the country, including the flagship New International Cruise terminal coming up in Mumbai with a total cost of about INR 495 crore.

Sonowal asserted that the Indian cruise market has the potential to grow 10 folds over the next decade, driven by rising demand and disposable incomes.

“The government realises this potential and is determined to position India as a global cruise hub with state-of-art infrastructure for both ocean and river cruises,” he said.

The sea cruise terminal, coming up at BPX-Indira Dock, is expected to be commissioned by July 2024. It will have a capacity of handling 200 ships and 1 million passengers per annum. Similar infrastructure up-gradation is taking place in Goa, New Mangalore, Kochi, Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata.

“Four theme-based coastal destination circuits, such as Gujarat Pilgrimage tours, West Coast – Cultural and scenic tours, South Coast – Ayurvedic wellness tours and East Coast – heritage tourism have been developed to activate cruise demand,” said Naik while addressing the conference. (Source FE)

‘STB is ready to support agents with the Cruise Development Fund scheme for marketing’

Singapore Tourism Board is gearing up to welcome tourists from India with renewed vigour after a lull of two years. GB Srithar, Regional Director – India, Middle East & South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board, talks to Disha Shah Ghosh about revising cruise tourism strategy, and the change in opening of new resorts currently under development due to the pandemic-induced stress in the real estate sector.

Q. Singapore was a popular destination for cruising for Indian travellers. What revisions are being made to the strategy with limited cruising options currently?

With effect from 1 April 2022, fully vaccinated travellers can take any flight to Singapore to enjoy quarantine-free visits, without requiring an on-arrival test. The easing of travel restrictions comes at an opportune time for our audiences in India. The start of the peak summer family travel season is just around the corner allowing Indians an excellent opportunity to explore Singapore’s new and reimagined tourism offerings. According to the latest COVID-19 impact analysis report commissioned by the STB, India has the highest level of confidence to travel and desire to travel among the 15 key source markets surveyed, for both leisure and business travel.

India is a key source market for Singapore, not just for leisure and business travel, but also for cruise tourism. The healthy development of domestic cruise products in India has helped to sustain interest among the Indian audience to cruising overseas and Singapore remains an attractive option as a leading cruise hub of Asia. Prior to the pandemic, cruising out of Singapore was a popular programme among India “families with kids” and MICE corporate incentive trips.

We believe Singapore will continue to draw cruise holiday-makers from India as we welcomed the launch of Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas which set sail on April 11, 20022 with year-long home porting at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre. We are heartened to know from the travel trade that consumers are looking forward to travel to Singapore and sail again on the “cruise-to-nowhere” itinerary. We have already started our consumer engagement efforts through social media outreach to excite the Indian audience to start reserving their cruise vacations in Singapore.

We can look forward to cruise agents re-starting their marketing activities for cruise holidays with pre-and post-cruise experience packaging. STB is ready to support the cruise agents with the Cruise Development Fund scheme to augment their marketing efforts.

Q. Like all destinations impacted by the pandemic, tourist arrivals from India to Singapore were at an all-time low last year. With the new Vaccinated Travel Framework, how do you envisage the recovery process?

Under the newly announced Vaccinated Travel Framework (VTF), with effect from April 1, 2022, fully vaccinated travellers from India can visit Singapore quarantine-free. They will no longer need to apply for entry approval via the Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) which was a requirement of the previous Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) arrangement. They may take any fight to travel to Singapore. This applies to children under the age of 12 years old. They will also no longer need to undertake an on-arrival Covid-19 test in Singapore. These are positive developments in Singapore’s progressive borders re-opening measures which will be a boost to welcoming back Indian visitors to Singapore.

Specifically, for Meeting and Incentive (M&I) trips, the doing away with the on-arrival test will have a significant impact for such group movements from India. We are already receiving many enquiries to reconsider Singapore as a potential destination, ranging from small, medium to large M&I groups, some as early as May 2022.

Singapore has added new attractions like the Museum of Ice Cream, open-air panoramic SkyHelix Sentosa and Adventure HQ – Singapore’s first and largest multi-installation adventure centre. The hosting of Formula One’s only night race will return to Singapore from September 29 to October 2, 2022, the longest contract renewal of seven years will generate significant benefits and global branding value for Singapore

We are conscious that the revival of tourism cannot happen in a vacuum. Apart from safety and ease of travel and experience considerations, travellers will also be looking out for the integrated manner in which travel service providers operate. Tourism recovery may start slow and pick up momentum in the coming months. We are confident that given the diverse re-imagined experiences available in Singapore, Indian visitors will feel welcomed back to the city and enjoy their holidays.

Q. Singapore had ambitious plans for resort, hotel and theme park development. Have the timelines being pushed ahead? Your comments

While the pandemic was a challenging period for all of us, I am impressed by the sheer resilience of the travel and tourism industry and how it kept the momentum even during harsh times. During the pandemic, our stakeholders used this period to adapt and innovate to reimagine the future of travel by introducing novel experiences, harnessing technology for low contact customer service and ensuring heightened safety and hygiene standards. We are also embracing wellness and sustainability in our tourism development roadmap.

The delay in the expansion plans for Singapore’s integrated resorts and Mandai park remains to be seen as pandemic-related disruptions in the construction industry are being assessed.

But we are committed to building a robust pipeline of exciting experiencing and product offerings. In fact, in 2021, several new hotels with unique lifestyle concepts opened in Singapore, such as The Clan, Maxwell Reserve and Oasia Resort Sentosa. These additions complement existing hotels that used this period to refresh or rebrand their properties, such as Hilton Singapore (reopening as voco Orchard Singapore in 2022) and Mandarin Orchard (reopening as Hilton Singapore Orchard in 2022).

Existing attractions used this period to refresh their offerings or introduce new ones, which included Haw Par Villa’s Hell’s Museum, the Brickosaurs World at Singapore Zoo and River Wonders, ArtScience Museum’s new permanent Virtual Reality (VR) gallery, Madame Tussaud’s Singapore: Marvel Universe display, National Orchid Garden’s Tropical Montane Orchidetum, and Gardens by the Bay’s Orchid Haven.

There is also a series of new attractions in the pipeline. For example, the Slingshot – Asia’s tallest slingshot ride at Clarke Quay, the Jewel-rassic Quest, a ticketed AR experience at Jewel Changi Airport’s Canopy Park and Shiseido Forest Valley, is slated to launch in 2022. Using immersive AR technology, users will be transported 89 million years into the past on a quest, where they will complete activities and interact with dinosaurs along the way.

 

Mumbai-Goa cruise ship sent back with all passengers, including Covid infected

According to a Mint report, in the wake of 66 of the over 2,000 people on board the Cordelia cruise ship tested positive for Covid-19 infection, an official from a shipping agency said that the cruise ship has been sent back to Mumbai from Goa with all the passengers after some of the infected persons refused to get admitted to a medical facility in the coastal state.

The official has informed that the infected passengers would be isolated on the ship. As many as 66 of the over 2,000 people on board the Cordelia cruise ship, which came to Goa from Mumbai, tested positive for Covid-19, said Vishwajit Rane, Health Minister, Goa.

The cruise liner, was carrying hordes of New Year revelers. The testing of those on board the vessel was necessitated after a crew member was found infected with the coronavirus on Sunday, an official said.

The ship was sent back at 11.30 pm on January 03 after 27 passengers, who had tested positive, refused to disembark, Govind Pernulkar, manager operations, JM Baxi and Co, a local ship agent said. “The ship had to be sent back after some of the passengers who tested positive refused to get admitted to a Covid-19 facility in Goa. Only six crew members out of the total 66 who had tested positive were disembarked in Goa,” he said.

IRCTC launches cruise booking service from Mumbai; signs an agreement with Cordelia Cruises

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is venturing into the international and domestic cruise business for the first time targeting the domestic market including potential outbound guests. IRCTC has signed an agreement with Cordelia Cruises for the same.

Starting from September, the cruise service will remain available to tourists who want to explore India’s coastline can book their tickets for the month of October, November and December from irctctourism.com, the official website for booking tourism packages offered by IRCTC.

People can now enjoy travelling on a cruise from Mumbai to places like Goa, Diu, Lakshadweep, Kochi this month.People can book tickets through IRCTC for taking a cruise journey this month from Mumbai to all the tourist places which falls on India’s coastline. In the first phase, the base of the cruise will be in Mumbai and it will travel all over India. (Source Mint)