India announces world’s longest luxury river cruise
51-day cruise, ‘Ganga Vilas’, will cover the tourist trove of eastern India from Varanasi to Kaziranga National Park and Dibrugarh in Assam
Ganga Vilas; source - GoI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the world’s longest river cruise, MV Ganga Vilas, from Varanasi on 13 January 2023.
The 51-day cruise, with a capacity of 36 tourists, will be India’s first official long-duration cruise with luxury, sustainability and safety as priority.
The MV Ganga Vilas vessel is 62 meters in length, 12 meters in width and a draft of 1.4 meters. It has three decks and 18 suites. The first voyage will carry 32 tourists from Switzerland.
The government said that the ship follows sustainable principles and is equipped with pollution-free mechanisms and noise control technologies. The expected date of arrival of MV Ganga Vilas in Dibrugarh is 1 March 2023.
The cruise will visit 50 tourist spots and events, including “Ganga Arti” in Varanasi, Sarnath, Mayong (Tantric craft), Majuli, Sunderbans, and Kaziranga National Park (one-horn rhino).
Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, said this will herald a new age of river cruise tourism for India. “The huge untapped potential of river cruise is set to get unlocked with the launch of this service,” he added.
“From Kashi to Sarnath, from Majuli to Mayong, from Sunderbans to Kaziranga, this cruise packs an experience of a lifetime. I believe that this wonderful initiative, under the guidance of Prime Minister Modi ji, is the beginning of a new era in river cruise tourism in India and strengthening our government’s commitment to enable Act East, both through policy and practice,” Sonowal said.
He added that the river tourism circuits will be developed and integrated with the existing tourism circuits for maximum exposure and rapid development of this sector in the country.
The MV Ganga Vilas cruise is a first-of-its-kind cruise service with support from the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) under Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways (MoPSW).
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