We are pleased to see the Indian Cruise market starting to develop. Although spurred by price cuts, the Indian Cruise market is up 20 per cent in April.
Cruise tourism is still a niche segment in India and accounts for only two per cent of all outbound tourism. However, this year, travel companies are offering competitive packages to attract customers and the size of the Indian outbound cruise tourism industry is estimated to be worth about Rs 240 crore with around 80,000 people cruising per year, mostly taking shorter and faster cruises rather than those favoured by Americans and Europeans.
This reminds us of a tour we helped organise many years ago for an international coach tour operator, seeking to offer short, quick itineraries around Europe specifically for the Indian market.
The tours were a great success until we had a special tour request from a group of Jains. While their itinerary was straight forward, their dietary requirements threw our French and Swiss hoteliers into a spin!
" So that'll be 40 vegetarians for lunch, no meat, no chicken and no vegetables that grow under the ground..".
We can still hear the hoteliers response now..
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