Kochi, Nov 14 (ANI): The tourism minister of Kerala, AP Anil Kumar, launched water taxis and hop-on hop-off boat services to increase the potential of backwaters for state tourism. First of its kind in India, water taxis and boats were flagged off by Kumar in Kochi recently. As Kerala is surrounded by waterways, the services have been launched with the view to ensure the “last-mile connectivity” to tourist destinations, and lure more and more tourists to Kerala backwaters. The hop-on and hop-off boats are air conditioned with seating accommodation for 25 passengers at a time and they will ply at regular intervals. One buying a day’s ticket can travel in it for any number of times within 24 hours. The passenger can get into the boat from any boat jetty and can step down at whichever destination he wants where the boat travels. Besides having a new experience one can also avoid road traffic congestion.