Indian Cruise Liner to Maldives on Schedule

The Chennai-based AMET Cruises says it will launch its cruise services from Kochi to Maldives starting from the first week of October.

According to Business Line news service, m.v. AMET Majesty will sail from Kochi to the Maldives, Lakshadweep and a cruise on the Kochi high seas and the first cruise will set sail from Kochi on the first week of October and the itinerary will continue up to April 2012.

According to AMET Cruises, they will initially offer one high sea sailing, one two-night sailing to the Lakshwadeep and one four-night sailing to the Maldives on a weekly basis.

AMET Cruises will make cruise tourism accessible to the burgeoning urban middle-class households in India.

Business Line news service reports the company officials saying that India is one of the fastest growing outbound travel markets in the world and there is a forecast that outgoing tourism expenditure will grow 25.7 per cent between 2006 and 2011 to reach a value of $21 billion by 2011.

Business Line news service says that cruise tourism was an increasingly sought after leisure choice in India and once though accessible only to the rich, cruise tourism is becoming more affordable now even for the middle-class households.