Luxury cruise liners come calling:
Tourists should be taken to Goa
By high-speed railway line

With luxury cruise liners arrayed one by one at Cochin port over a period of time now, it should be an eye-opener for the authorities to provide connectivity to the passengers coming from various countries to places such as Mangalore and Goa through the high-speed rail corridor on the western coast.

Usually passenger cruise liners berth at the port for a day or two. There are many international passengers who would like to have a glimpse of Goa and other places. It should be possible for them to undertake high-speed rail journey from Kochi to Goa or Mangalore and come back the same day after sight-seeing.

Cochin Port has become the synosure of luxury cruise liners. The other day Cruise Vessel MV Aurora called at Cochin Port with 1,750 tourists and 900 crew members on board. Another cruise vessel Queen Victoria would also be berthing at Cochin Port soon. It would have 2,500 tourists.

In recent times, passenger liners Minerva, Queen Elizabeth II, Legend of Seas, Song of Flower, Renaissance VII, Renaissance VIII, Rotterdam VI, Island Princess, Arkona, Sea Goddess, Maxim Gorky, Vislamor, Crystal Symphony, Europa, Silver Cloud, Marco Polo, Royal Star, Star Flyer, Clilia II, Oriana and others have called at the port.

We cannot reverse the clock of adventure, tourism and developments any more. The potential for exploiting tourism is immense. Only thing is we should provide facilities for the tourists to undertake a quick connecting journey to places of interest such as Goa and Mangalore through the high-speed railway system. It would not be possible for the cruise liners to call at all the ports. Cochin is the ideal port for this purpose. Tourists should be taken to other places by high-speed railway system.--OJ