Title: Bamboo Green House Boats
Alleppey formally known as “Venice of the East” is gifted with its rich lush green paddy fields (were cultivation is below water level) canals lagoons and much more……….
Going through the pages of history in the backwaters, we can see it silent in the shore; it is the kettuvallam the uncrowned princes of kerala boat we had used it for traveling transporting and even for living…. A floating shelter….now the magic band progresses touches it. It reborn with new names houseboat as the word meant, a full facility house inside a boat without violating the beauties of kettuvallam.
The houseboat has become the most popular tourism product In India today. Gliding along the vast green expanse of the backwaters is the most amazing spectacle in the world.
I am Ambu C R did MBA(Marketing) from RVS Dindugal, after passing out I joined Styler Media with a low salary, but within one week I was able to bring some business into the firm and which enable me to get a 50% increase in salary. But I realize that this is not ‘my cup of tea’, I wanted freedom in my life were I can make decisions. The urge to become an entrepreneur was always there in my blood. My house is located near to the Vembanad Lake. I used to spend my evenings in the shores of lake with my friend Rajeev, who is my Business partner. We dreamt of owing a house boat one day. We analyze the feasibility of starting a business in this field. There were around 100 houseboats in service at that time. After some discussions we decided to enter into the field of houseboats.
We funded our business by taking a loan from Bank of India and about 40% was put from our hand. We inaugurated our first boat in November 2002 which was built according to our interest and the innovation and the main attraction of this boat was swing coats which was the first ever in the history of backwater tourism in Alleppy. House boats are classified into 3 categories Silver Star (less spaceous, Non A/C), gold star (Rooms are spaceous, A/C is available) and Green Park (dual power option, eco friendly) and ours is a gold star. We appointed three employees in that houseboat driver (engine operator), cook and srank. We provide mainly two types of trips that is day cruise(5-6 Hours) and over night cruise(22 Hours).We charged around Rs: 5000/- per room for tourist (vary according to season). We tied up with 3 travel agencies in Bombay, Bangalore and Trivandrum and they are providing us customers and there are also customers who directly approach us. We found our business a profitable one. So we thought of expanding our business and we decided to build two more house boats. Our 2nd house boat with two bedrooms with gold star category started its sailing on 25th December 2003, and the next house boat was launched in 25th December 2004 with three bed room, it also fall in the gold star category. All of our boats are fitted with Bio-toilets system to protect the sanctity of the lake. We are using inboard engines in order to reduce the pollution. It is glad to mention that our industry is providing employment to more than 2000 people directly and indirectly.
We also offer you a set of wonderful packages to make your holiday an enjoyable one. In this beautiful land of coconuts and paddy fields, there is nothing that you should leave unseen. We help you to cover the enchanting distances of beauty and green, whether it is individuals, couples, groups, or even corporate conferences, we arrange everything for you and see that all you get at the end is satisfaction.
There are some facts other than the seasonal tourists, to sustain the business of house boat tourism that is the domestic tourists. They will mostly prefer the off season to benefit the low expense. Major customers were from Gujarat and Maharashtra. Nowadays we are getting customers from Bangalore also. Majority of them are from IT industry. There is another thing that how we utilizing the off season that decides the profitability of the business.
Usually the peak season is from November to February, most of the visitors during this time are foreigners. Apart from basic back water packages, we have introduced a new concept of ‘TRIANGULAR TOURISM’, which brings you closer to the beaches, backwaters and hill stations of KERALA. We have also introduced a new package for the off season. That is mainly targeting the domestic tourists, family consisting of 4 members that is parents along with 2 children for a day cruise just for Rs: 3999/-.
One of main problems that we faced in the business was ‘Tsunami’, & the epidemic ‘Chickun Gunia’. We lost many of our bookings and its effect was there for the 2003 & 2004 seasons. But from 2005 onwards more and more tourists started coming and business caught up. Now the business is running in profit and we are happy with it.
