Dubai 'seeks to be winter cruise hub'


Dubai : The Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing is in talks with a number of cruise lines to launch services to Dubai next winter, said Awad Al Seghayer, DTCM's acting manager of the cruise terminal and director of the Dubai Convention Bureau.

"We are in talks with other operators and anticipate a number of new liners coming to Dubai next winter," he said.

"Dubai has all the requirements to be a winter hub for cruise operators. It is the only major passenger traffic hub from Athens to Singapore and it takes only three days to relocate a ship from Europe to Dubai."

Meanwhile, Seetours, the German branch of the world's largest cruise company, Carnival Corporation, has announced that its 14-deck AIDAblu cruise ship will stop in Dubai this year for the first time.

Seetours is just one of several operators being eyed by the DTCM as part of its campaign to position the emirate as a winter cruise hub.

The winter cruise hub positioning is to be marketed by the DTCM at the Seatrade Middle East Maritime exhibition and conference being held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from December 6-8.

"When working out a routing, we take a careful look at market surveys and trends," said Michael Thamm, president of Seetours. "The main focus is on politically stable locations and regions, operability of flight transportation, possibility of tourist pre- and post-stays and attractive ports of call within the routings. Dubai is a fascinating port we would gladly include in our itinerary more often, especially as our Trans Suez itinerary received high interest among our customers and was almost fully booked in a very short time.

"This success shows how appealing Dubai as a port of call really is. Given that the political situation in the entire Arabian region stabilises, Dubai is certainly a really attractive alternative as a starting point for our winter programme in the long term."

Al Seghayer said: "This conference is going from strength to strength and Seatrade Middle East Maritime, and the associated Dubai International Maritime Awards, are greatly assisting our efforts to ensure Dubai is firmly on the international cruise industry map.

"We are working closely with the private sector to realise our winter hub positioning and will be presenting this to some of the world's leading cruise operators, business developers and itinerary planners, which we will host at Seatrade Middle East Maritime."

The Fourth Seatrade Middle East Cruise conference, which will be held December 6-7, will explore how to unlock the region's cruise potential, including itinerary options and infrastructure development.

Where will the cruise terminal be?????

the same thought went through my mind
i guess it'll be port rashid
sometimes there are cruise ships

well this would be another plus for dubai far to few cruise ternimals
and duabi could really pull this off i expect

just strange which cruise ships from which country will land in dubai
there's no market for cruise ship tours in this area. where do these ships want to go?
indonesia? south africa? mauririus? all of them far far away
oman/muscat? bahrain? qatar? within the persian gulf, but too less destinations

i'm pretty sure there won't be a big market for cruise ships

another option would be to enter the meditarrenean sea, but all ships have to go through suez-channel and it's a long long way.

so we have to wait what areas and markets they want to attract and do business with

Where will the cruise terminal be?????

I think there is a special building has been built for this purpose in port rashid last year

could always just cruise around here
or could built a few custom islands similar to the Maldives in the gulf and curise between them

i think india is very close to dubai, so they could cruise there.

just the question if india is a big market for cruise ships

thats why i say make islands
perhaps dubai could invest in the coast line of a near by country and they could then sail there ?

i think india is very close to dubai, so they could cruise there.

Pakistan is startring Ferry services, Dubai - Gwadar - Karachi - Mumbai - Dhakka

So i guess, there is potential for that as well..

I was reading a report that was released by PTDC that Cruise Ship services will be launched from Gwadar once the city is some what developed.. :)

Maybe in the next few years.

thats why i say make islands
perhaps dubai could invest in the coast line of a near by country and they could then sail there ?

Maybe.. Gwadar in Pakistan .. ? Gwadar is a coastal city as you can see on the map below, has huge tourism potential. Dubai can invest there, and make some quick bucks.

UAE's shipping industry recently request the Pakistan govt to set up shipping industry in Gwadar, so maybe we could expect Dubai to invest in other projects as well.. a cruise terminal ? hmm..

http://realestate.kalpoint.com/kalpoint/Realestate/code/images/gawadar.jpg

I think Trances is referring to the tourists ones

I think Trances is referring to the tourists ones

The place has a lot of tourism potential. :)

Dubai’s cruise ship traffic begins to gather steam

Dubai: Dubai's hugely promising cruise tourism got a boost with the docking of a large cruise ship, the Aidablu, at its cruise terminal.

The ship has a capacity of 1,660 passengers and arrived here for a three-day stay.

Guests were given a traditional Arabian-style welcome in the presence of senior government officials including Awad Al Seghayer, acting manager of the cruise terminal, after they disembarked from the 14-deck, 246-metre vessel.

The passengers come from 16 nations including Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the US.

The Rais Hassan Saadi Group is the port handling agent for Aida Cruises, and SNTTA is the ground handler. There was a passenger exchange programme.

Dr Friedhold Hoppert, the ship’s captain, praised Dubai’s excellent cruise terminal facilities and the tourist attractions.

Werner Englisch, the ship’s Club Director, said a number of recreational and fitness programmes were being organised aboard for the guests.

A children’s club is also operating for the large number of them on this voyage.

During his meeting with Al Seghayer, Michael Ungerer, senior vice-president of operations for Aida Cruises, expressed strong confidence in the way Dubai was being developed along with its cruise hub potential.

Part of Carnival Corporation, Aida Cruises is the market leader in Germany, both in terms of revenue and passengers.

The public-listed company operates four cruise ships with a total capacity of 5,600 lower berths.

Two new ships with a total lower berth capacity of 2,030 are expected to join the fleet in 2007 and 2009, he added.

He said there has been a strong and growing interest in Dubai in the German market.

“Germans are keenly interested in the Arab world and Dubai enjoys greater interest given its spectacular development, tourist attractions, shopping options and safety levels,” he said. The company, he said, will consider using Dubai as a hub after studying the guests’ experiences and recommendations.

A number of advantages, including convenient air connections and hospitality services provide an excellent opportunity to market Dubai as an ideal winter destination for Europeans, he added.

Al Seghayer said this was one of the largest ships to dock at the Dubai Cruise Terminal since it opened in March 2001.

From a mere eight calls by cruise ships a decade ago, the landmark facility greeted 12,771 passengers between 2001 and 2003 and traffic is growing.

:hammer: Not Gwadar again

gwadar does have a lot of tourist potential for the future, may be in 5-10 years, but right know it isn't a good idea to go there with a cruise ship, because its mostly desert, nothing to do there, in 5-10 years when it develops resorts and hotels, then yes it would be perfect destination.

seem to pushing the media at least

Dubai to welcome 15 cruise ships next year
Dubai | Staff Report | 13/11/2004 | Print this page


Dubai expects to receive over 13,000 visitors in 15 cruise ship arrivals next year.

Two cruise ships, AIDAblu and Silver Shadow, recently stopped at the Dubai Cruise Terminal with over 3,700 passengers of 21 nationalities on board.

Cruise tourism has enjoyed phenomenal growth in the emirate in recent years, with the cruise terminal greeting an increasing number of visitors with each passing year.

Khalid Ahmad Bin Sulayem, director general of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), said: "Cruise tourism plays a crucial role in the overall growth and development of the tourism industry in Dubai.

"Realising its importance, Dubai has created the required infrastructure and attuned the services to tap its market potential."

Cruise ships carrying a total of 10,000 guests are scheduled to visit Dubai before the end of 2004. The bulk of passengers arriving on cruise ships originate from the United Kingdom and the United States.

Dubai took its place on the world cruise map in 1993 when the emirate welcomed a cruise ship with 703 passengers aboard.

Currently in its third year of operation, the Dubai Cruise Terminal leads other terminals in the Middle East region in terms of cruise ship passenger exchanges during their itineraries.

As part of the aggressive promotion strategy to increase cruise tourism, DTCM is participating in the Seatrade Middle East Maritime exhibition to be held in Dubai from December 6-8.

seems like cruise ships also play a little role for dubai's tourism

14 crusie ships bring 13.000 visitors to dubai, thought it would be more
for me a cruise ship has a capacity of 1500+

so there might be some smaller ones

but it definitely is a new branch that seems to grow rapidly :)

I would just love to see some huge mooring or pier built
Image the sort to things they could built to cater to this !

yes, if they plan to expand this, cruise ships shouldn't dock at port rashid anymore. a new pier would be better

but where to build it? part of maritime city? ...?

I just envisage some grand boulevard of shops and service built on massive pier. With Ships docked on both sides
Sure dubai could do right
no more of this container style cruise ships docks please

how about cruise ship city then? :D

no, but i was wondering what these cruise ships were doing when they docked at port rashid when i was looking out of our windows.
i always though they would be there for repairs, but now it's clear to me!