Buoyed by the patronage for Indra, a double-decker solar tourist boat that began services in the backwaters off Marine Drive here earlier this year, the State Water Transport department (SWTD) is gearing up to relaunch Vega 120, its fast ferry, as a tourist boat.
The vessel having 40 seats in its air-conditioned cabin and 80 seats in its non-air-conditioned space operated in the Vaikom-Ernakulam-Fort Kochi corridor. It was withdrawn from service during the pandemic and sent for dry-docking. It is now berthed at the Ernakulam Boat Jetty on completion of dry-docking. Informed sources attributed the delay in relaunching it as a tourist vessel to the time taken in getting approvals from the Indian Registry of Shipping (IRS).
“Simultaneous with upgrading our single-hull ferries to catamaran ones, we decided to venture into budget tourism services in the Kochi backwaters as well, considering the roaring success of our tourist-boat services in Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Kollam,” said sources in the SWTD. “Apart from the cruise through serene locales, guests have been appreciative of the food that is served on board,” they added.
The backwater cruise sector off Marine Drive was hitherto dominated by private players. Faced with competition, a few of them launched big air-conditioned tourist vessels, with food included in the package.
On the sound patronage for Indra, said to be India’s largest solar-electric ferry, sources said the air-conditioned, double-decker vessel with 100 seats had brought in a total of ₹4.24-lakh revenue from 1,462 guests in April and ₹4.96 lakh from 1,769 guests in May.
The fare for adults is ₹300, while it is ₹150 for children aged five to 11, inclusive of snacks, for the two-hour-long package tours. The booking contact number is 94000-50350 (and 351).
