Worldwide, cruise tourism has been growing exponentially, estimated to have grown from 17.8 million passengers in 2007 to 25.8 million passengers in 2017. However, cruises are also known for high environmental and social costs. Each cruise ship can carry between 3000 and 5000 passengers. These ships are extravagant, running not only fine-dining restaurants, casinos and multiple swimming pools, but some of them even having entire amusement parks with go-karting, rock-climbing and roller-coasters in them. Environmentally, cruise ships are basically “floating cities”, and are huge guzzlers of fuel.69 Reportedly, in the UK, local environmental groups have demonstrated that a single cruise ship emits particulate matter equivalent to 1 million cars. Cruises also have very little economic benefit with some research suggesting that ecological costs may be upto seven times higher than the local economic benefit.

Despite this, India has been bringing in infrastructure and policy changes to promote cruise tourism in a big way. Many shipping rules were relaxed by the Directorate General of Shipping to accommodate cruise ships. This includes allowing foreign flag vessels to call at Indian ports without licenses until the year 2024, setting up of e-visa facilities in ports like Mumbai, Goa, Chennai and others, preferential berthing to homeport cruises and others. The development of cruise infrastructure is a part of the Sagarmala project, and the Blue Economy Policy 2020. With increasing interest in inland waterways, cruises are also being promoted in rivers. In 2017, the first international cruise ship docked in India with the blessings of the Ministry of Shipping. Since then, cruise tourism in India has been increasing multifold from 138 ships and 1.76 lakh passengers in 2017-18 to an estimated 580 ships with 5.65 lakh passengers in 2019-20.

However, despite the increasing cruise tourism in India, there is limited critical research or public dialogue. Cruise tourism has been brought in largely through executive orders, hence there has been no parliamentary debate on the matter. There have been no Acts or policies put into the public domain, and the general public and stakeholders have been given little to no information of the repercussions of cruise tourism or even of cruise tourism coming in at all.  

This webinar aims to get the ball rolling on generating a public conversation around cruise tourism in India to critically understand cruises, and what the growth of this industry means for India. We bring together experts from other countries as well as from India to take a critical look at the burgeoning cruise industry in India.

Speakers
1. Prof. Sheela Agarwal, Associate Head of Plymouth Business School for Research and Innovation
2. Dr. Axel Friedrich, scientist working on pollution; former consultant with World Bank, GIZ and Founder of International Council for Clean Transport
3. Edwin Dela Cruz, President of the International Seafarers Action Center, Philippines who works on labour rights for cruise workers
with reflections from Indian speakers:
1. Soumya Dutta, Co-convenor of South Asian People's Action on Climate Crisis
2. Gandimathi, General Secretary, Coastal Action Network
3. Muralidharan, marine biologist; field director of Dakshin Foundation

20th March 2020, 8 am GMT (1.30pm IST)