Heritage River Journeys, one of the major players in the river cruising industry, is eyeing a significant increase in its business in the next five years, backed by introducing a variety of vessels.

The company is planning to navigate more rivers, Annapurna Garimella, Director, Antara Cruises-Heritage River Journeys, told businessline.

Antara Cruises is the brand under which New Delhi-headquartered Heritage River Journeys operates its river cruises on the Ganga, Padma, Brahmaputra and Bhitarkanika National Park.

Founded in 2003, the company currently has a fleet of nine vessels, including four large vessels and four luxury catamarans. Last year, its turnover stood at around ₹40 crore.

“We are expanding our fleet. We are creating a much more stable and expansive shore operations programme so that we can grow our business with better offerings and we can service our clientele much better,” Garimella said.

“The product in Odisha’s Bhitarkanika National Park (catamarans) was launched this year. It’s a brand new product that we are offering, and the route is also within the national park. MV Bengal Ganga for Varanasi programme is also a new product for us,” she said.

Kolkata to Varanasi

Antara Cruises has announced the launch of its newly renovated Bengal Ganga for a 20-day journey from Kolkata to Varanasi for travellers.

“In the short-term, our plan is to get our Varanasi programme and Odisha programme really solid. In the next 2-3 years we want to expand our fleet size to 12. Our medium-term programme is to build more vessels and look at more rivers,” Garimella added

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