Swiss tourists reach Kashi for 51-day cruise by Ganga Vilas

Varanasi: The Swiss tourists, who will be the part of the maiden 51-day voyage of Ganga Vilas cruise from Varanasi to Dibrugarh, were accorded a warm and traditional welcome at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International airport on Tuesday.
The airport director Aryama Sanyal welcomed the tourists at the airport amid the chant of vedic mantras by the local priests. The deputy director of UP Tourism, Preeti Srivastava said that 32 Swiss tourists landed at the airport on Tuesday. This group of tourists from Switzerland will travel in the Ganga Vilas luxury cruise, which will be virtually flagged off by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 13.
The founder and CEO of Antara Luxury River Cruises, Raj Singh said that the MV Ganga Vilas cruise is 62 meters in length, 12 meters in width and comfortably sails with a draft of 1.4 meters. It has three decks, 18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the amenities to provide a memorable and luxurious experience for the tourists. The ship follows sustainable principles at its core as it is equipped with pollution-free mechanisms and noise control technologies. The maiden voyage of MV Ganga Vilas will witness 32 tourists from Switzerland relishing the Varanasi to Dibrugarh journey.
The 51 days cruise is planned with visits to 50 tourist spots including world heritage sites, national parks, river ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Guwahati in Assam. It will cover a distance of more than 3,200 km across 27 river systems in five states of India and Bangladesh.