Dubai: Dubai is hosting one of the biggest cruise tourism seasons of the year. The event, which got to a start on October 25 with the arrival of Seabourn Encore of cruise brand Seabourn Cruises, and last till June 2018, is a huge attraction among tourists and travelers from all over the world including India.
Keeping in mind the popularity of the cruise season among Indians, Dubai tourism department had conducted extensive road shows in major Indian cities of Bengaluru, Pune, Ahmedabad and Mumbai in collaboration with cruise companies like Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises.
Dubai Cruise Tourism director Jamal Al Falasi claims that the number of cruise tourists visiting Dubai have seen a phenomenal increase in the recent years. Emirates Airlines, DP World, Dubai Customs, Dubai Emigration all work in tandem during the Dubai cruise tourism season. Last season, the Dubai Cruise Terminal at Port Rashid, operated by DP World, was a preferred port of call for 650,000 passengers on international cruise liners. The port received 57 cruise ships in the last season while this year it is expected to receive 115 luxury cruise ships from 22 cruise lines.
Last season the port received for the first time luxury cruises like Thomson Cruises of UK, Mein Schiff 1 of TUI Cruises, Norwegian Star of Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Fantasia.
Sports fishing is a major attraction of the cruise season. The tourism department has set up packages that give an experience of the costal life and traditional fishing techniques like angling and net fishing.
