Mrs. Nalini Gupta, Head of Costa Cruise India talks about Destination Wedding Industry

A recent study reveals that India's Destination Wedding Industry is anticipated to reach a market size of INR 45,000 Crore by 2020. Cruises are becoming the next wedding destination. Costa Cruise, an Italian cruise operator has emerged as a next wedding destination for tier II and tier III cities. In conversation with Mrs. Nalini Gupta where she speaks about the specialities of Coats Cruise. BV: Would you like to introduce yourself to your readers? Nalini: I have been lucky to have had varied exposure in the travel industry, comprising 2 decades at Air India, to heading Abacus CRS systems, Regional Head South East Asia - South African Airways, President Thomas Cook Travel Businesses & Director Travel Corporation of India. I set up Lotus Destinations in December 2009. Throughout my career, what I have most enjoyed is being part of projects, which are at the initial stage of the growth cycle in our country, e.g. Abacus in 1995 when the travel industry was getting introduced to the Computerised Reservation Systems, South African Airways in 2000 when South Africa as a tourist destination was unknown in India. This led me to set up Lotus Destinations, which is the GSA for the European Cruise Leader, Costa Cruise in 2012. My company is primarily invested in growing the phenomenon of cruising within India, with focused efforts being on Costa Cruise. Costa Cruise has now garnered emphatic presence in India and in December 2016 was the first cruise liner to home-port Costa neoClassica for sailings between Mumbai to the Maldives. I truly believe that cruising has great potential in India and I am very optimistic that it will eventually become the new way of holidaying for Indians. BV: What is the objective behind coming up of Costa Cruise? Nalini: Cruising holidays within India is growing aggressively but only about 1% of the outbound Indian traveler contributes to the global cruising numbers, so there is a huge opportunity in this segment. But the big growth in numbers will happen only once cruise liners start home porting the ships along the Indian coastline, which is the case that happened even for China when Costa Cruises deployed its ship in Shanghai in 2006. In fact, the Indian cruise market has the potential to exceed the China numbers once more cruise liners start home porting ships at Indian ports. We saw a good jump in our Indian passenger numbers and market share after we started our Mumbai to Maldives cruise. The Indian traveler is ready and cruising is now on many travelers' bucket list. Costa Luminosa_aerial view BV: Would you like to describe the facilities one can expect on Costa Cruise? Nalini: In terms of the Indian perspective, we make sure while the cruise provides an international experience onboard, there are customizations to meet the unique needs of the Indian market. Everything is available on the ship, from Meeting venues and Award ceremonies in our Theatre to the Leisure activities in the various lounges, pool decks and bars on the ship. In the Indian market, we are also promoting cruising as a wedding destination. Nowadays leisure destinations have become mice hubs among the corporates and Costa is an ideal option for MICE activities. Since we have consistently exceeded our customer's expectations, we have not only retained existing cruisers but seen growth coming from the strong word of mouth referrals. BV: What are the cuisines served? Any specialities? Nalini: There are several cuisines available on board. We take special attention to customize the cuisine as per the customer's requirement. There are options for a healthy diet like salads and even healthy desserts. Most importantly, we have a whole area dedicated to a variety of Indian cuisine as food plays a very important part in a person's experience onboard. Customization of Indian meal availability on all the ships. We provide an international experience onboard with food and entertainment, we have always kept in mind the demand for Indian food. This is important for any company if they really want to tap numbers within the Indian travel market. On our Mumbai to Maldives sailings, we have a large Indian and Jain Buffet corner available along with the international options. For the upcoming November 2019 season, we are also looking at having a chaat counter. Even on the Mediterranean, Dubai, North Europe itineraries, we always provide Indian meals on request. Mrs. Nalini Gupta, head of Costa Cruises in India BV: Would you please educate our readers about the functionality and timings of the cruise? Nalini: We provide cruises across the globe from Europe, Dubai, Singapore, Japan, Dubai, and South America, and we were the first to start cruises from Mumbai to the Maldives in 2016. Our goal is to make cruising more accessible to the Indian traveler and encourage families to travel together. Costa offers a Kids below 18 years cruise free policy on a sharing cabin, whereby kids have to pay only port taxes and minimal gratuities. BV: Anything that is coming up in the near future by Costa Cruise? Nalini: In November 2019, Costa Smeralda will be launched with a passenger capacity of over 5500 cruisers. Being very environment conscious, this is going to be the very first LNG fueled ship, a major environmental revolution in the cruising industry. After have three consecutive successful home porting seasons in India and keeping in mind the growing demand, Costa Cruises is looking for something better for the 4th season. In November 2019, we will be bringing in a larger ship Costa Victoria to home port in Mumbai. To know more such Indian personalities, follow Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Download our magazine Spunky Indian for exclusive stories.