By
Michele Witthaus |
A new regional group has announced several initiatives to enhance the attractiveness of Oman, Abu Dhabi and Dubai to cruise visitors.
Cruise Arabia was founded in 2013 to promote the region as an 'up and coming' cruise destination, said Hamad Bin Mejren of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing in Dubai. Ships from Costa Cruises, Aida Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, TUI Cruises and MSC Cruises will homeport at Cruise Arabia ports.
“We are working together to promote the region and there are requests for other regional ports to join,” he said. “We have invested in infrastructure and are working on easing the visa and pricing process. We are opening up Indian and Chinese markets which are really untapped.”
Bin Mejren said he expected that the reform of visa regulations and pricing in particular would have a huge impact on the cruise industry in the region, with the recent announcement by India that visas will be issued on arrival in Indian ports further adding to the attractiveness of cruising from Arabian ports.
Future plans include work on a new cruise port in Abu Dhabi and the construction of a desert island beach stopover island. There is also a vision to transform Oman's Port Sultan Qaboos into to a major tourism hub and winter cruise destination.
“Cruise tourism in our area is up and coming and the whole region is developing to become a leading cruise destination,” he said, adding that local infrastructure was ready to support growth: “Dubai International Airport hosts more than 14 airlines which travel to 260 destinations. There are over 600 hotels with more than 80,000 rooms.”