Zen Cruises Pvt Ltd, an Essel Group enterprise that was acting as General Sales Agent (GSA) in India for Jalesh Cruises, Mauritius, announced today the completion of the sale of its cruise line brand ‘Jalesh’ to Waterways Leisure Pvt Ltd.

Waterways Leisure is part of Sant Chatwal-promoted Dreams Hotel Group.

With the sale of its cruise line brand, Essel has exited from the cruise business paving the way for Waterways to capitalise on the opportunity provided by the Indian market, it said.

“We are glad to hand over India’s first cruise line brand to a reputed person like Sant Chatwal and see its continuity rather than it going into oblivion. We are also happy to extend all our support, including allowing them to use our existing infrastructure. We look forward to their success in the Indian market, including providing any further transition support that they may need,” an Essel spokesperson said.

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The brand’s entire digital interface and technology backend, the software developed for customer acquisition, the customer database of existing customers and likely new customers, along with travel agents partner network, will be handed over to Waterways as part of the deal. Existing executives and employees of Zen have been hired by Waterways. Waterways would also retain Jurgen Bailom as President & CEO to drive this business.

All the existing customer bookings for ‘Jalesh’ will be serviced by Waterways.

“We are very excited with this opportunity to capitalise on the Jalesh brand which has been established as India’s first premium cruise brand,” Vijay Kher, country head of Dream Hotel Group & spokesperson for Waterways Leisure said.

“India is a very huge market, and one needs sharp acumen and rich experience to offer hospitality and entertainment services, which we look forward to deriving from Chatwal and his professional team of experts at the US-based Dream Hotel Group. Their experience of over three decades in the realm of hotel management will add immense value to our overall approach,” Kher added.

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“India is a very large market and presents unique set of opportunities to build a business of this nature. Chatwal and his company’s expertise will help us a lot in achieving this dream,” said Bailom.