ThIruvananthapuram: With the Vizhinjam International Transshipment Terminal all set to tweak the geography of Kovalam, the tourism industry in the tourist-starved beach destination is anchoring its hopes on the large cruise liners that will berth at Vizhinjam in the near future.
As of now, medium-sized cruise liners make ‘half-day halts’ at the Vizhinjam port, primitive in its facilities, along their way to or from other destinations like Mumbai and Maldives.
This year, four cruise ships had docked off the Vizhinjam coast and more are expected to follow. “This is unprecedented as only two cruise-liners arrived last year,” said a senior port official. Though these half-day affairs of cruise ships are not working wonders for tourism in Kovalam, industry watchers feel that cruise liners hold great promise.
“The arrival of cruise tourists is not helping the accommodation industry as they are in the mainland for only a few hours,” said Mr E M Najeeb, president of the Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry. However, it is felt that the infrastructure will become more cruise-friendly when the Vizhinjam terminal comes into being.
At the moment the Vizhinjam port, which is bracing itself for bigger times, has primitive facilities. The cruise liners have to dock mid-sea, drop the passengers on to small boats which would then taken them to the port on choppy waters.
“There is an element of risk involved here as most of the passengers in these cruise liners are above 50,” the senior port official said. “Of the 300-odd passengers, only 100 or less would be interested to take a boat to the mainland,” he added.
According to industry leaders, their arrival and departure should be made a grand event for cruise passengers to think of making Kovalam a long-haul destination.
The current lot of cruise tourists is more interested in the capital city than Kovalam. “They have just 12-14 hours on land and indulge in a sight-seeing trip of the city,” said Mr Joseph Xavier who runs Emerald Link near Vizhinjam. “They don’t have time for Kovalam,” he said.
