VISAKHAPATNAM:  On Thursday, For the first time an international boutique cruise ship docked at the Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh. The dawn to dusk visitor, Silver Discoverer, is a 1989 seven-star liner, built in Russia. The ship came from Trincomalee in Sri Lanka via Chennai.Nearly a hundred tourists on board from the Americas and European countries were given a grand welcome by top officials who took them around the city.

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Specially, The Andhra Pradesh tourism department arranged special stalls of Araku coffee, Kondapalli toys and other handloom items unique to the state. The union shipping secretary, Gopal Krishna who was in the city to welcome the Silver Discoverer told reporters that Vizag had all the "advantages" of turning into a destination for cruise lovers. It will also generate more jobs he said.

A 77-crore project has been accepted last month by the government to develop Vizag port. Soon it is all set to get a cruise-cum-coastal cargo terminal. The Silver Discoverer is operated by a Monaco-based company, Silversea Crusises, which has a fleet of eight ultra luxury cruise ships. The smaller vessels can carry around a 100 guests while the larger ones can carry upto 540 guests. 

The cruise heads next  to Bangladesh.

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