Published on : Tuesday, August 14, 2018
In Dubai, the cruise season runs from November and March each year.
According to Cruise Arabia and Africa, the number of cruise passengers in Dubai increased from 320,000 in the 2013/2014 cruise season, to 625,000 in the 2016/2017 season, marking a 95 per cent growth rate.
The number of cruise ship calls to Dubai at Hamdan Bin Mohammad Cruise Terminal at Port Rashid increased by 68 per cent, from 93 in 2013/2014 cruise season to 156 in 2016/2017.
The tourism board of Dubai has said that over the next cruise season (2018/2019), it expects to see 725,000 cruise tourists and 825,000 cruise tourists in the 2019/2020 season.
In the coming cruise season, 83 cruise ships are expected to make use of Dubai as a transit city and Dubai cruise port will be the last destination for 30 cruises.
The Dubai Chamber has said that the government is increasingly incorporating cruise tourism into its broader strategy in order to attract more visitors to the city.
In order to support the cruise tourism industry in Dubai, multiple-entry UAE visas exclusively for cruise tourists have been implemented.
The government plans to transform Dubai into a fully integrated maritime tourism hub and build new cruise terminals.
The new Dubai Cruise Terminal project is expected to begin operations in October 2020, and will have the capacity to accommodate six cruise ships at the same time.
Between 2011 and 2016, US, Chinese and German tourists were the top three countries in the number of ocean cruise passengers globally. However, in Dubai, German tourists accounted for the biggest share of cruise passengers.
Tags: cruise tourism