VISAKHAPATNAM: Even three months after the Royal Vashista boat capsized, Visakhapatnam tourism boats are yet to resume their services. It was decided to conduct fitness checks for all boats until then all the watersports activities were stopped.
Recently, Kakinada Port officials, who give licences for running boat services, visited Vizag for inspection, but there is no word from officials on the resumption of boat services. According to the boat owners, this has affected the tourism sector hard in the vacation season.
A few weeks after the boat incident, the State government decided to stop boat services of government and private companies across the State. With this, the revenue of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department and private boats at Rushikonda was badly hit.
While Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department runs speedboats at Rushikonda and Fishing Harbour, a private company runs a speedboat and kayaking service at Rushikonda. The stalling of boat services during the vacation season of Dasara and Christmas gave a jolt to hundreds of tourists visiting the city and boat owners incurred huge revenue loss. Meanwhile, it was learnt that the Kakinada Port officials will visit Vizag for giving licence again.