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Dubai has won the hearts of the global cruise industry after its only passenger cruise terminal, operated by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing
(DTCM), bagged a coveted award at the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention in the US city of Miami.
Dubai
won the Dream World Cruise Destinations award in the ‘Most Efficient Port Services’ category. It praised Dubai’s “most efficient combination of pilotage, port
agency services, customs clearance and good working relations with the operations departments of cruise lines”.
Mr. Awadh Al Seghayer, Acting Manager of Dubai Cruise Terminal, who represented the DTCM and Dubai Cruise Terminal at the Miami show, received the award.
He
said, “We highly appreciate and acknowledge the confidence that the cruise industry has placed in us, especially in one of our major source markets, the US. We are
working to deliver more than the expectations of the world. Our aggressive promotional and marketing initiatives, coupled with excellent infrastructure and services,
have helped place Dubai firmly on the cruising map of the world.”
It was Dubai’s seventh year participation at the annual gathering of cruise industry professionals from across the world. The four-day annual event attracted 950
exhibitors from over 100 countries this year. Dubai’s five co-participants were SNTTA, Orient Tours, Rais Hassan Saadi, Gulf Agency Company and Emirates’ USA office.
Dubai anticipates over 33 % growth in cruise passengers this year compared with the previous year which brought over 8,000 cruise tourists to one of the world’s most
rapidly-developing destinations.
The department is promoting the cruise season until 2006 among the visitors to the show. Cruise tourists from across the world are expected to be around 12,000 this
year, up from an approximately 8,000 visitors last year.
Last year closed with the arrival of two cruise ships, AIDAblu and Silver Shadow, with a total of over 3,700 passengers from 21 nationalities on board.
Mr. Al Seghayer
said, “Cruise tourism is important to the overall growth and development of the tourism industry in Dubai. We realized its importance long ago and
started creating world-class infrastructure and services that were needed to tap its immense potential.”
The Dubai Cruise Terminal
is located on a 335-metre quay offering the capacity to berth two ships simultaneously, while the terminal itself is around 3,300 square meters in
size. The Terminal is the world's first to receive ISO-9002 certification and also the world’s only cruise facility run by
a government tourism body.
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