GUWAHATI: Ganga Vilas, the world's longest river cruise, arrived in Guwahati at 03:30 PM on Monday.
All 28 Swiss tourists on board were given a rousing reception at the IWAI Pandu port after it was anchored with the Saraighat bridge on the backdrop. SL Subansiri and HPT Ambedkar escorted the ship.
After disembarking, the tourists were offered tea while they relished the colourful folk dance performance by troupes of Karbi and Tiwa communities by the bank of the Brahmaputra in the milieu of a sublime evening Sun against the mystical Saraighat bridge.
Additional Chief Secretary Maninder Singh received the tourists along with Deputy Commissioner (Kamrup Metro) Pallav Gopal Jha; Regional Director, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), A Selvakumar, among others.
The visiting tourists from Switzerland will visit the Kamakhya Temple along with the Assam State Museum on Tuesday morning before they leave for their onward journey to Mayong.
Earlier in the day, the tourists visited Sualkuchi to witness Assam's vibrant textile & handloom industry. Mesmerised by the craft, the tourists exalted seeing magical motifs woven onto the Muga and Pat Silk.
The weavers showcased the brilliance of Assam's handloom industry to the visiting tourists who enjoyed the sheer genius of the artisans.
Flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the historic cruise set sail from Varanasi on January 13, 2023, and, after traversing through the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, as well as Bangladesh, arriving at Dhubri in Assam on its 39 days of the voyage.
Dubbed the longest river cruise in the world, the Varanasi to Bogibeel voyage by the Ganga Vilas is scheduled to complete the journey when it anchors at Bogibeel in Dibrugarh, drawing a close to this exotic experience of the river cruise.
Earlier, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal, termed the arrival of the Ganga Vilas cruise ship at Dhubri in Assam, India, as a 'watershed moment' in the inland waterways transportation towards the transformation of Northeast India.
Sonowal congratulated the people of Assam and the Northeast on this historical moment that is set to unlock the huge potential of river tourism, allowing trickle-down development for people across the bank of the Brahmaputra.