Marella Discovery 2 cruise liner calls on Colombo
Daily FT: The luxury cruise ship M.V. Marella Discovery 2 of Marella Cruises with 1,800 passengers and 755 crew on board will make her maiden call at the Port of Colombo last week.
Aitken Spence Shipping is the local agent to facilitate the cruise liner whilst Aitken Spence Travels is the shore excursion provider offering excursion services in Colombo and Hambantota.
The Marella Discovery 2 carried out a turn-around at Colombo wherein 900 passengers disembarked and a further 900 passengers embarked the vessel during her stay in Sri Lanka. Marella Cruises has chartered 3 flights for this turn-around operation at Colombo.
Marella Discovery 2 is one of their biggest ships, with highlights like an outdoor cinema, a rock-climbing wall, a mini-golf course, five-story atrium, fully equipped fitness center and two magnificent pools, indoor and outdoor. The ship also has seven bars and eight restaurants to cater to all the passengers’ culinary preferences. This luxury liner has 918 cabins on 11 decks, with a capacity to accommodate 2,000 passengers, with a crew of 750-770.
The vessel that cruises under the flag of Bahamas will call Colombo from Mormugao, India while Georgetown, Malaysia is her next port of call.
OSL take:
The steady growth in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has also attracted many cruise liners to the country. The many promotional campaigns carried out by local authorities in key tourist source markets and Sri Lanka being identified as a must visit tourist destination by the international media have all helped boost the country’s tourism industry. The exploring of new tourism concepts to attract more tourists to the country have all expanded the business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, especially in the leisure and hospitality sectors. Also, with tourists arriving in the country in cruise liners exploring new tourism concepts have opened up opportunities in the development of infrastructure and supplementary infrastructure facilities required by the industry in order to meet the growing demand. The growing business potential in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has attracted many international leisure and hospitality brands to enter Sri Lanka while local businesses in the industry are looking at further expansion. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry while also looking at forming partnerships or joint ventures with local businesses engaged in the industry with the aim of further expansion.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20231212/Z_7 |