KOCHI: Ring in the New Year, the visitors could hop on to the country’s largest solar-electric boat and experience a thrilling ride under the night skies while tuning in to live music and dancing under the stars. With its day trips enjoying high patronage, the State Water Transport Department (SWTD) is all set to start night tourism cruises on the Kochi backwaters using the solar vessel ‘Indra’.
The 100-seat air-conditioned double-decker vessel, exclusively for tourist voyages, boasts of a specially-made “open spaced” upper deck, where tourists can enjoy the alluring scenery of the backwaters, along with a food counter and on-board entertainment facilities.
“We’ve refurbished the boat with LED and ‘warm lights’ to have that splendid look in the night. According to our plan, the night trip will start at 7pm and conclude by 9.30 - 10pm. Minister K B Ganesh Kumar will announce the service soon, which will be operated from New Year onwards,” said a senior SWTD official.
The Rs 3.5-crore boat, launched on March 31, operates two trips daily at 11am and 4pm, each three hours long. As many as 10,570 visitors have already travelled in the solar cruise vessel as the revenue aggregated over Rs 24 lakh, clocking an average monthly revenue of Rs 4 lakh. “There is a huge demand for the sunset trip as the vessel is among the few tourist services that goes up to the mouth of the sea. Since it operates on solar energy, the cost of operations will be much less. More importantly, there will not be any carbon or noise pollution,” the official said.
While the private vessels conduct late evening trips, the same will only be one-hour rides and not cover the distance as much as Indra.
“We’re getting a lot of enquiries, and hence decided to introduce the night cruise trips,” he pointed out. Starting from Ernakulam boat jetty, the vessel sails to Bolgatty Palace, Vallarpadam, Container Terminal, Vypeen, Kamalakadavu, Fort Kochi and the sea mouth before returning to Marine Drive via Willingdon Island. The ticket costs Rs 300 per head for adults and Rs 150 per child. The SWTD has tied up with Kudumbashree to provide the on-board food counter facility.