Luxury Yacht Service Soon Between Vizag, Kakinada

Visakhapatnam: In a bid to improve tourist attractions, the Tourism Department has embarked on a plan to operate a luxury yacht between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada soon by deploying a private operator.

The yacht will be procured and operated by Dolphin Ocean Cruises, which signed an MoU recently with the AP Tourism Department here in the presence of Tourism Minister Kandula Durgesh and Special Chief Secretary, Tourism Ajay Jain. Yacht will be operated from the Fishing Harbour here.

The cruise terminal developed by the Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) with an investment of about Rs100 crore is also getting ready to launch a service by Cordellia Cruises between Visakhapatnam and Chennai connecting Puducherry. The terminal has already docked The World, a super luxury cruise liner which has condominiums owned by several Americans and Europeans.

Durgesh said they have plans to connect Visakhapatnam to nearby tourist places for three to four hours to carry 50 passengers in the luxury boat with all comforts to enable them to have a panoramic view of the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal. Later they will explore operating service between Visakhapatnam and Nellore via Kakinada. The yacht will have two attached bed rooms and common amenities on the open deck.

After the successful operation of a seaplane between Prakasam Barrage in Vijayawada and Srisailam, the authorities are exploring to conduct feasibility studies for launching such service between Visakhapatnam to Kakianda or Araku Valley. Heli tourism is another area which is being examined. During the Araku Festival 'Chali' the spectacular view of the Eastern Ghats was showcased to tourists by a helicopter by a private operator named Vibhang.

The luxury yacht being launched can also be used for hosting small business conferences and get-togethers. As per the decision taken at the South India Tourist Ministers' Conclave, the rules prevalent in each State regarding excise and other matters have to be followed once a tourist vessel reaches their jurisdiction. The issue figured at the meeting after Puducherry had raised objections over serving liquor over a cruise liner on reaching their geographical limits without obtaining clearance from their officials.

Visakhapatnam recorded a footfall of 1.7 crore tourists in 2022, which increased to 6.1 crore in 2023, accounting for one-fourth of total tourist inflow into Andhra Pradesh. The arrival of tourists went up by 10.2 per cent in 2023-24 over the previous year.