India has immense potential in cruise industry: Tourism Minister Reddy

Panaji, June 19:  Union Minister of Tourism G Kishan Reddy on Monday said that with an extended coastline of 7500 km and home to large rivers, India has immense growth potential in the cruise industry.

The minister, while speaking at the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Goa, said: "With an extended coastline of 7500 km and home to large rivers, India has immense growth potential in the cruise industry. Our government is dedicated to developing infrastructure for ports, domestic and international cruise terminals."

The concluding and last G20 Tourism Working Group meeting along with the Tourism Ministerial Meeting began on Monday in Goa.

The minister said that the government is trying to harness the power of tourism to boost coastal tourism, beach tourism, light-house tourism and cruise tourism.

"India is one of the potential cruise tourism destinations with many of its best tourist destinations yet to be disclosed to the world," he said.

He said that the government is planning to establish youth tourism clubs in all educational institutes. "These clubs will promote responsible tourism practices," he said.

"Post Covid pandemic has not only given an opportunity to rebuild the tourism sector, but also to shift focus on the tourism sector and contribute towards green, inclusive and circular economic growth," the minister said.

He said that the government is taking steps to eradicate the menace of plastic for the clean India mission. "We are taking all steps to get rid of plastic pollution," he said, adding that the government is working for sustainable tourism.

"There is a need for collective action and knowledge sharing, best practices to achieve our goal to tackle the plastic waste. We are committed towards it. We need to work together to take steps to contribute to reducing plastic waste," he said.