Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai: The Dubai Cruise Terminal expects to receive 420,000 cruise tourists this year, according to Hamad Mohammad Bin Mejren, the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketings executive director for business tourism.
Last year we saw 396,554 cruise passengers to Dubai and we expect the number to go up to 420,000 by the end of this year, he told Gulf News.
We will have two new additional companies FTI Cruises and TUI Cruises [both from Germany] carrying out home porting operations from Dubai this year. That will definitely increase the cruise passenger numbers, he added. The cruise terminal currently handles Costa Cruises, Aida and Royal Caribbean. Having received 108 cruise ship calls in 2011 giving a big push to Dubais tourism industry, the Dubai Cruise Terminal sees annual cruise tourist arrivals by 2015 to exceed half a million, DTCM said.
By Shweta Jain, Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
