Date:27/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/27/stories/2008082750880200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Kerala joins ocean race

Staff Reporter

A lucky few get to stay in houseboats off Kochi

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Calling one and all: Kathakali artistes perform during the Kerala Tourism promotional press conference in Bangalore on Tuesday.

BANGALORE: It will be a village of sorts on water, created to cater to special guests calling on Indian shores. A unique houseboat village will come up off Kochi in December when the participants of Volvo Ocean Race, the world’s premier offshore yacht race, make a stopover there.

This village will have 100 houseboats with a total of 1,000 rooms. This is likely to overcome the shortage of hotel rooms in Kochi.

“We are anticipating a shortage of rooms as a large number of guests will arrive at Kochi to witness the event. The village will take care of the accommodation needs of the support team of the participants, corporate guests and crew members,” Kerala Tourism Director M. Sivasankar told presspersons here on Tuesday.

Following the signing of the Kochi stopover port agreement, Kochi is now a stopover port of the race.

Mr. Sivasankar said, “The race will enhance Kochi’s standing as a hub of leisure sailing and cruising. The Kerala Government will provide berthing facilities to the houseboats.”

Referred to as the Everest of Sailing, the 2008 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race is coming to Asia for the first time. It will commence from Alicante, Spain in October.

The round-the-world yacht race will feature 11 ocean legs, eight inshore races and shorter stopovers in a nine-month odyssey, a press release said.

Coinciding with the race will be the Grand Kerala Shopping Festival which will commence on December 1 and go on till January 15.

Over 5,000 establishments are expected to participate in the festival. Mr. Sivasankar said that during the previous edition of the festival, 2,195 establishments participated and gifts worth Rs. 10 crore were distributed. “We are expecting a good response to the festival. The major attractions will be gold and silver articles and electronic gadgets,” he added.

The Kerala Tourism Department has also come out with dream weekend packages in Wayanad district as software professionals are frequently travelling to Kerala during weekends.