As a part of promoting cruise tourism the requirement of biometric enrolment for the major ports of Mumbai, Cochin, Chennai, Mormugao and New Mangalore has been exempted by Government of India for a period of three years till 31st December, 2020 for cruise tourists arriving with e-visa. A customer-friendly and hassle-free immigration regime steps such as implementation of e-visa and e-Landing cards at the five ports has also taken for cruise passengers.
The revised Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) have been implemented at the five major ports which receive cruise vessels. The revised SOPs inter alia provide for submission of documents/data electronically, seamless entry and exit processes with Access Control & RFID for vehicles and persons and simplified Port Health Organization clearance procedure. The SOP provides for e-Landing card for shore excursion, doing away with face to face checks except at the first of entry and last port of exist and allowing carrying of valid photo I-card for Indian cruise passengers on domestic leg instead of the passport.
The proposed projects to upgrade the Cruise Terminal at Mumbai Port at cost of Rs. 197 crore and construct a new terminal at Cochin Port and Rs 25.72 crore are slated to be completed by August, 2019 and February, 2020 respectively.
