The newly opened cruise terminal in Dubai’s Mina Rashid made January the port’s busiest month ever with a record 150,000 tourists arriving on more than 30 ships.
Twice last month the port accommodated five cruise ships at the same time – a first in the terminal’s history. It also welcomed Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, the largest cruise ship to call in the GCC.
The Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal, opened last December, is capable of welcoming 14,000 cruise passengers per day.
“January was a busy month for Dubai’s cruise industry and we’ve reached some real milestones and made significant progress towards our targets,” said Hamad bin Mejren, the executive director of Dubai Tourism. “In 2014, Dubai received 358,000 passengers from 94 cruise ship calls, and the forecast for 2015 stands at 425,000 cruise tourists from 115 ship calls. With the total figure for January 2015 alone at 150,000 visitors, we’re confident that our 2015 target is achievable.”
Dubai will soon host five of the world’s biggest cruise operators.
It is presently home to three of the world’s biggest – Costa, Aida and MSC – with TUI and Royal Caribbean returning in the next two seasons.
Apart from the liners based in Dubai, 26 other ships from four cruise lines docked at the port.
Mina Rashid expects to attract 5 per cent, or 1 million of the 20 million visitors targeted for 2020.
While the inbound figures for cruise visitors are impressive, outbound traffic is growing at a similar rate.
“Dubai’s cruise business is booming because of a combination of factors,” said Samer Assaad, the director of Alpha Holidays. “It’s the attraction of the city, the fantastic new terminal and taking a cruise becoming more popular.”
ascott@thenational.ae
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