The Indian cruising industry also felt the effects of the Covid pandemic, but home-grown domestic cruise player Cordelia Cruises saw a huge opportunity during the distress to cater Indian travellers
After two successful years of operating domestic cruises across India, premium cruise line Cordelia Cruises is all set to begin sailing to Sri Lanka, its first international sailing outside Indian shores. Sharing highlights of the journey with travel.economictimes.indiatimes.com since inception, Jurgen Bailom, President and CEO said that they had welcomed over 3 lakh guests on The Empress by Cordelia Cruises.
The Indian cruising industry also felt the effects of the Covid pandemic, but home-grown domestic cruise player Cordelia Cruises saw a huge opportunity during the distress to cater Indian travellers. To provide a wholesome cruise-holiday experience to guests without compromising on their health and safety, Cordelia Cruises started its journey on the Indian shores and started sailing across the country from September 2021. Since then, the journey has been good, said Bailom. The premium cruise liner has welcomed over three lakh guests on board since its first sail.
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“India has a huge potential to become the next big cruising hub.”
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“I foresee India becoming one of the biggest cruises happening globally over the next five to 10 years. All the big companies are looking at what we’re doing.”
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“With such a vast coastline, India has a huge potential to become the next big cruising hub. Also, the interest of Indian cruisers is still very, very small.”
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“Yes, we doubled the market. But only about 500,000 are Indians going on a cruise for five years. It’s not even the tip of the iceberg, so the potential is huge.”
— Jurgen Bailom, President and CEO Cordelia Cruises
Bailom said India would become one of the biggest markets for cruising globally in next 5 to 10 years. In the past 12 months, Cordelia Cruises has completed 100+ sailings along both the east and the west coast of India, has covered 7 ports in total including Kochi, Goa, Mumbai, Lakshadweep, Visakhapatnam, and Chennai, and has done more than 300 shows while serving 100,000 plus guests on The Empress by Cordelia Cruises.
Cordelia Cruises has its base port in Mumbai and another home port in Chennai to manage its operations. The company operates sailings throughout the year from the Mumbai port. The cruise liner will soon start cruising to Sri Lanka from June 2023 all the way till September 2023 with itineraries ranging from three, four-, and five-nights trips.
According to Bailom, India has a huge potential to become the next big cruising hub. “I foresee India becoming one of the biggest cruises happening globally over the next five to 10 years. All the big companies are looking at what we’re doing. With such a vast coastline, India has a huge potential to become the next big cruising hub. Also, the interest of Indian cruisers is still very, very small. Yes, we doubled the market. But only about 500,000 are Indians going on a cruise for five years. It’s not even the tip of the iceberg, so the potential is huge,” he added.
At the same time, Bailom mentioned that the country needs more cruising infrastructure to excel further. “Work has to be done on destinations since there are not too many functional ports. As a company, we are also working very hard to bring more vessels to the Indian shores.
But it’s not just about bringing a vessel, there’s so many more factors involved. Infrastructure is a big one, policy is another factor to keep in mind, but I think we’re doing a good job on that front. The Indian government supports cruising. More important factor is infrastructure, which the government is working hard to improve. They are showing a keen interest but it will take a little bit of time and so you can’t be overreacting. There are plenty of ships to buy to bring them to India, but we also need to make sure that the counter grows at the same speed,” he said.
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