Kolkata: Heritage River Journeys Pvt Ltd, which operates cruises from Kolkata under the brand of ‘Antara Cruises’ in the Ganges, Padma, Brahmaputra and Bhitarkanika rivers, hopes to achieve Rs1,000 crore turnover in the next five years, said company director Annapurna Garimella. Last year, the company clocked a turnover of Rs 40 crore.
The company also plans to invest in building and acquiring new vessels, developing shore facilities to expand its luxury hospitality cruising operations and working with govt agencies to ramp up the existing shore infrastructure.
Currently, the company operates four ships for cruises – Ganges Voyager, Ganges Voyager II, Ganga Vilas and Bengal Ganga – connecting Kolkata to Murshidabad, Varanasi, Mayapur, Sundarbans, Dhaka and Dibrugarh.
The Bengal Ganga cruise will start from Kolkata to Varanasi in October. “The vessel we acquired and brought from Burma in 2009 has been refurbished and renovated at Gadiara in Howrah for Rs 4 crore. After the voyage, the vessel will be permanently stationed in Varanasi.”