India's longest river cruise to Sail from Varanasi in January 2023

The government is set to launch the world’s longest luxury river cruise from Varanasi to Dibrugarh via Bangladesh next year. The world’s longest luxury river cruise aims to give a push to Indian inland waterways development.

The 50 days cruise will set sail from Varanasi and pass-through Kolkata and Dhaka before reaching Bogibeel in the Dibrugarh district of Assam. The cruise will sail on 10th January 2023 and will cover a distance of 4,000 km.

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India’s longest river cruise to Sail from Varanasi in January 2023- Key Points

The world’s longest luxury river cruise or the Ganga Vilas cruise will sail from Varanasi to Dibrugarh in the longest river journey of 50 days.
The 50 days long journey will cover 27 river systems and visit over 50 tourist sites including World Heritage Sites.
The journey of the world’s longest luxury river cruise will be the single largest river journey by a single river ship in the world.
This journey will also put India and Bangladesh on the river cruise map of the world.
The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal informed that the development of coastal and rover shipping includes cruise services which is one of the priorities of the government.
He also informed that more such services would be launched to tap the country’s enormous potential in this area.
The development of Inland Waterways systems would also facilitate trade and cargo services.
This will boost tourism around the area along with its routes.
The Varanasi-Dibrugarh cruise is expected to be run on a PPP model with the MoU to run the first set of cruise liners signed between the Island Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Anatara Luxury River Cruises and JM Baxi River Cruises.
The operators will decide the ticket price based on a cost-plus basis with no intervention from the Centre.