Impact of Home Porting Strategies in the Development of Cruise Tourism in India

Abstract

The cruise tourism industry has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sectors of global tourism, with home porting playing a pivotal role in enhancing regional economic development and destination competitiveness. India possesses significant potential to become a major cruise home port due to its extensive coastline, strategic geographic location, and rich cultural heritage. This study investigates the impact of home porting strategies on the development of cruise tourism in India by examining three major constructs: Enabling Environment, Decisive Environment, and Home Porting Environment. A descriptive research design was adopted using a structured questionnaire administered to 100 respondents representing cruise operators, tourism officials, travel agents, port authorities, and passengers through stratified random sampling. The study employed Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's HSD post-hoc analysis to evaluate the influence of demographic variables such as age, experience, and job type on respondents' perceptions. The findings reveal statistically significant differences across all three constructs with respect to age, experience, and job type (p < 0.001). The results indicate that experienced maritime professionals and different stakeholder groups perceive home porting strategies differently, highlighting the importance of stakeholder-specific policy interventions. The study concludes that strengthening infrastructure, governance coordination, multimodal connectivity, and strategic destination marketing can substantially improve India's home porting capabilities. The research provides valuable recommendations for policymakers, port authorities, and cruise operators to formulate sustainable home porting strategies that can position India as a leading cruise tourism destination in the Asia-Pacific region.