As part of an initiative to promote cruise tourism, the New Mangalore Port Trust plans to have an exclusive gate for movement of tourists at the port. It has also suggested that the district administration start helicopter services for tourists arriving in the city by ships to visit pilgrimage centres around Mangaluru.
During a recent chat with reporters, NMPT chairman A.V. Ramana said the port, which already has three gates, has proposed to have a fourth gate exclusively for visitors arriving by cruise vessels. This gate will be connected by a separate road for tourist vehicles which take and drop back tourists arriving by ships. Hence, there will be no interference from the regular traffic of the port. “We hope to have this in about three years,” he said.
Mr. Ramana said he has asked the Dakshina Kannada district administration to start heli-tourism from the city by which cruise visitors can be taken quickly to important places such as Kukke Subrahmanya, Mookambika temple and Sringeri Sharada Peetham.
“The cruise vessels visiting the port are dayliners wherein the vessels come in the morning and leave in the night. If somebody runs helicopter service during the cruise season, passengers can be taken from the helipad in the city for a quick visit to important places that have helipads,” he said. Mr. Ramana said he had raised this with Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S., who responded positively.
Compared to the port in Kochi in Kerala, which has good international flight connectivity, the New Mangalore Port receives a low number of cruise vessels. “Last year, we had 26 crew vessels with 29,372 passengers. We hope to get the same number of the vessels this year as well,” he said. Berth No.4 at the port handles cruise vessels.
Mr. Ramana said the district administration has agreed to run a prepaid taxi counter for tourists with the help of the local police. The NMPT has asked the Tourism Department to operate buses to various destinations. These buses should have guides who are fluent in English, French and Spanish. These buses can also have audio related to tourism destinations in foreign languages that can be played for tourists, he said.
The district administration, he said, has been asked to welcome tourists with “State flavour”, showing them a short video showcasing Karnataka’s rich cultural diversity.
