COCHIN, India, 1 October 2005 — Kerala, the market leader in India’s burgeoning tourism industry, is now exploring its submarine potentials to woo international tourists.
The Pioneer Underwater Tours has contracted a Finnish firm to build a submarine to launch “underwater sight-seeing”. The project, aimed at adventurous tourists, is expected to get clearance from India’s director general of shipping.
“We already have federal funding for smart waterways linking the 600-km north-south tips. Now, we are looking at unexplored areas,” Tourism Minister K.C. Venugopal said.
The industrially backward southern Indian state last year earned 60 billion rupees from tourism. This year, it added health tourism on its menu to court tourists from the Middle East in a big way.
“We are building a marina to woo water enthusiasts. Cochin is going to be another hub in the region after Dubai and Singapore for leisure boating and marine tourism,” Venugopal said after inaugurating the three-day India International Boat Show here.
Pioneer CEO K. Bhaskaran and Kerala state Inland Navigation Corporation (KSINC) Managing Director K.N. Sateesh are working out details of the project. The submarine will operate to a maximum depth of 300 feet with 24 passengers and two crew members. External lighting, VHF, through-water communications, underwater video and obstacle avoidance sonar systems would be fitted on the vessel, Sateesh said.
A three-hour ride in the submarine will cost between 1,500 rupees and 2,000 rupees.
The navy and the coastguard have given the go-ahead but clearance from the director-general of shipping is crucial for the project. The submarine will cost an estimated 100 million rupees.
Bhaskaran said: “The plan is to bring the submarine in November. The federal government will have to frame rules by then to register the it under the Indian flag.”
The company had paid about 20 percent of the cost and was planning to raise funds from overseas as Indian banks had developed cold feet, said Bhaskaran.
The marine leisure is the fastest growing segment of the travel industry as is evident from the success and growth of aquariums and marine parks, cruise ship industry and seaside resorts, Sateesh said.
