Published on : Saturday, March 2, 2019
Apart from facilities for ticket and cargo booking, passenger night-halt stay and guest house, provided by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust, (VPT) was also inaugurated.
This comes in the wake of the announcement of more shipping services and flights to be introduced between Visakhapatnam and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to boost tourism.
Currently, there is a monthly shipping service that sails to Andaman Islands from Visakhapatnam and back in the course of 12 days. There is also a flight service from Delhi to the islands via Visakhapatnam.
“Two more ships will be introduced within a year, with a carrying capacity of 1,200 passengers and 1,500 tonnes of cargo each. The administration of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is also looking to launch a three-day cruise package at a subsidised rate between Visakhapatnam and the Andaman Islands that will interest travellers, especially honeymooners,” said ML Peter, officer-in-charge, shipping services, Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration.
Chetan B Sanghi, chief secretary, Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration, said, “Visitors from Andaman Islands can come for sight-seeing, medical purposes, work-related tours and education purposes. With frequent and better connectivity between Visakhapatnam and the Andaman Islands, tourism at both the places will get a boost.”
M T Krishna Babu, chairman and managing director of VPT said that there is an opportunity for budget tourism to grow between the two places. “We are trying for domestic cruise operations from Chennai to Port Blair via Vizag. We are also coming up with a cruise terminal at a cost of Rs 80 crore and a modern cruise jetty in the next 18 months. International luxury cruise vessels have already started to come to Visakhapatnam. In May, another vessel from Europe with 1,700 passengers is expected. Foreign tourists are interested in the eastern coast,” he said.
Tags: Vizag-Andaman tourism