One of the major Bollywood releases of this year, Dil Dhadakne Do, starring Anil Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra, tells the story of an Indian family who go on a Mediterranean cruise with their friends to celebrate the parents' 30th wedding anniversary.
The film proved popular among cinema goers and did reasonably well at the box office. But for cruise operators it was the biggest hit of the year, cementing the popularity of a holiday segment that was already fast gaining traction among Indian travellers.
"Cruise holidays [among Indians] are increasingly becoming popular and we are observing a steady growth in demand of about 15 per cent per annum," says Karan Anand, the head of relationships at Cox and Kings, a luxury travel company headquartered in India. He explains that as Indians travel more and more, they are increasingly seeking "a different experience". This "is one of the reasons for the growing demand of cruise vacations which is at present evolving in India", he says. "The latest Bollywood film releases like Dil Dhadakne Do have also contributed their bit to attract people."
Expanding middle-class incomes and wealth in the country and Indians’ rising appetite for international travel means that cruise operators are turning to the subcontinent as an important market from which to source tourists. Still considered a relatively new and untapped market, the number of Indians taking cruises has huge potential to expand, according to travel experts. With the UN World Tourism Organisation predicting that there will be 50 million outbound travellers from India by 2020, the country is too big an opportunity to ignore.
“The Indian market for outbound passengers is indeed growing in importance for Royal Caribbean,” says Ratna Chadha, the chief executive of Tirun Travel Marketing, the exclusive India representative for Royal Caribbean Cruises. “In the last few years, there has been a palpable rise in the popularity of cruises in India. The cruise market, growing at a rate of 12 to 15 per cent, annually offers huge potential.”
Popular destinations among Indians taking cruises include Singapore, the Mediterranean, the Bahamas and the Caribbean, she says.
The number of superwealthy individuals in India, defined as those with a net worth of US$30 million or more, is expected to more than double to 3,371 people over the next decade from 1,652, according to a wealth report released this year by property consultant Knight Frank.
All this means that an ever larger number of Indians are also increasingly opting for more adventurous destinations including Alaska, South America, and Scandinavia, says Ms Chadha.
Iqbal Mulla, the president of the Global Tourism Council, based in Mumbai, says that cruises are gaining popularity among Indians partly because they were perceived as good value with packages being inclusive of all meals.
He says that cruise lines are working to attract Indian travellers by introducing options such as Jain (vegetarian) meals and recruiting Indian musicians and dancers to provide appealing entertainment options.
“When you want to attract a certain nationality, you have to have what they like,” Mr Mulla says. “Cruise companies are giving attractive packages to all the tour operators to make sure the Indian tourists experience it and are habituated to going on cruises. Otherwise the perception was that old people are going and it is boring. But it is not like that anymore. The cruise holidays have become a modern holiday.”
While Singapore and Malaysia have been doing particularly well as destinations for Indians booking cruises, he says that the UAE is gaining popularity among travellers.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which are both focusing on cruises as an important part of their overall tourism strategy, are actively targeting India.
The Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority last month carried out a cruise tourism roadshow in Delhi and Mumbai, attracting 500 travel agents.
The TCA Abu Dhabi says that cruise companies MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean are “developing packages suitable for the Indian outbound cruise market to Abu Dhabi”. A total of 112 cruise ships are expected to stop in the emirate during this season, which runs from September to May 2016, up from 94 during the previous season, according to Abu Dhabi Ports. These ships will bring in 205,000 passengers in total compared to 185,000 last season.
Tourism officials in Abu Dhabi have outlined plans to attract 300 cruise ships carrying about 600,000 passengers by 2030. The capital is developing a modern cruise terminal at Zayed Port, which is scheduled to open by the end of next month.
India is Abu Dhabi’s biggest international source market for tourists overall, but the majority of the travellers who come into the capital on cruise ships are from the UK and other European countries.
Dubai Cruise Tourism in August conducted a roadshow in India, visiting Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi, to promote Dubai as a cruise holiday destination.
“India ranked number two in the top source markets for visitors to our emirate in 2014, and we look forward to seeing it in a similar position within the cruise tourism segment as well. India is a key market within our cruise tourism strategy,” according to Jamal Humaid Al Falasi, the director of Dubai Cruise Tourism.
In the past, some Indian tourists had been put off booking cruise holidays because of the cost and hassle of organising two separate visas for the UAE as the cruises exit and re-enter the country on their voyages around the region. But the UAE recently introduced a multiple entry visa specifically for cruise tourists to solve this problem.
“Cruise companies are showing growing interest in the burgeoning and high potential India market,” says Shibani Phadkar, the senior vice president at Thomas Cook India.
They are “wooing” Indians with offers such as upgrades, discounts, and other deals, she says.
Cruises offer Indians a “brag factor” and appealed to middle-class travellers as well as high net worth and ultra high net worth Indians, according to Ms Phadkar.
“While the cruise market internationally is traditionally the domain of the seniors, our India data indicates a demand from families, youthful ‘Gen Y’, women-only groups, honeymooners, groups of friends, equally corporate executives and Mice [meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions],” she says.
The growth for Thomas Cook of cruise tourism bookings from India has been "impressive", Ms Phadkar adds. "Popular movies have been instrumental in fuelling the demand for cruises, the recent Bollywood hit Dil Dhadakne Do being a case in point, and we saw a surge in queries of over 40 per cent in the last month."
India is also of interest to cruise lines as a destination.
Royal Caribbean says that its cruises bring thousands of international travellers to India every year.
“India has become an important port of call for the global cruising industry,” says Ms Chadha, explaining that the country, however, needs to improve its infrastructure to make the more appealing to cruise companies and tourists alike.
"Royal Caribbean Cruises has more ships passing through India this year such as Rhapsody of the Seas, Quantum of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas as the number of Asia Pacific sailings steadily increases," she says.
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