ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN THE HOME PORTING OF CRUISE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

The cruise tourism industry has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of global tourism, contributing significantly to economic development, employment generation, and destination competitiveness. India possesses enormous potential to become a leading cruise home-porting destination because of its extensive coastline, strategic geographical location, and diverse tourism attractions. However, several infrastructural, operational, institutional, and policy-related challenges continue to hinder the development of cruise home ports in the country. The present study aims to identify the issues and challenges influencing home porting for cruise tourism development in India. A descriptive research design was adopted, and primary data were collected from 100 respondents representing various stakeholders in the Indian cruise industry using a structured questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale. Reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach's Alpha. Demographic analysis, One-Way ANOVA, and Chi-square tests were employed to analyse the collected data. The findings reveal that job type significantly influences respondents' perceptions of the Enabling Environment, Decisive Environment, and Home Porting Environment. Furthermore, all demographic variables exhibited significant associations with the three constructs, indicating that stakeholder characteristics influence perceptions toward cruise home-porting development. The study concludes that improving infrastructure, governance, multimodal connectivity, regulatory efficiency, and stakeholder collaboration is essential for transforming India into a globally competitive cruise home-porting destination.

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