Dubai Cruise Tourism, a department of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), hosted a ceremony today (April 23) officially launching the Dubai Cruise Committee at the ongoing Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai, UAE.

The signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) confirms the implementation of a collaborative framework designed to consolidate the city’s position as ‘cruise hub of the region’.

The Dubai Cruise Committee is a strategic network of leading industry partners; Dubai Tourism, DP World UAE Region FZE, Emirates Airline, The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai, and Dubai Customs.

This newly-signed MoU demonstrates each organisation’s commitment to work together to increase the number of cruise tourists to Dubai, and to achieving the goal of welcoming one million cruise tourists by the 2020/2021 season.

As well as agreeing to work together to sustain the emirate’s position as a leading winter cruise destination, the Dubai Cruise Committee discussed and approved business development strategies to secure long term contracts with existing clients and attract new cruise lines to use the emirate as their winter home port in the region. The committee also agreed to work to extend Dubai’s cruise season further into the summer months, to appeal to additional market segments around the world.

Hamad Bin Mejren, senior vice president, Dubai Tourism, said: “Dubai has been instrumental in pioneering cruise tourism in the region, and our success could not have been achieved without our close working relationships with both the public and private sectors.

“This landmark agreement signed today by the Dubai Cruise Committee will ensure that international cruise lines will receive an end-to-end support for their plans in Dubai. We are committed to working with our network of strategic partners to continue to build on Dubai Cruise’s success and achieve our target of attracting one million cruise tourists by the 2020/2021 cruise season.”

As a result of the MoU, Dubai Cruise Committee members will implement combined international marketing activities to raise awareness with a global audience of cruise enthusiasts on the breadth and strength of Dubai’s cruise offerings

 Incentives will also be launched that will encourage cruise lines to not only increase the number of ships they deploy to Dubai (and the region as a whole), but also to increase the period of time that the lines operate in the region each year.  These include a commitment to continuously enhance cruise tourism facilities within the city, as well as a promise of comprehensive support to cruise lines who homeport in Dubai and who have made the city a permanent port of call.

Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ executive vice president and chief commercial officer said: “We are proud to be part of this initiative and look forward to working with the committee to reinforce Dubai’s position as a leading cruise destination. Emirates connects the world to Dubai with over 150 destinations in our six-continent route network. We continue to provide industry-leading comforts on board our modern jets to ensure the Dubai experience remains cutting-edge as it becomes a hub for cruise tourism.”

Mohammed Al Mannaei, CEO - P&O Marinas & executive director - Mina Rashid, said: “Launching the Dubai Cruise Committee is a timely move in the right direction. Collaboration is key to realising Dubai’s full potential as a world class cruise destination and we will work closely with our Committee partners to create a fantastic experience for tourists.

“Mina Rashid can accommodate seven mega cruise vessels or 25,000 tourists simultaneously with the flagship Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal capable of handling 14,000 passengers a day. We’re committed to building on its reputation as the winner of the World's Leading Cruise Port Award eleven times in a row at the World Travel Awards.”

Dubai is fast becoming a favoured destination amongst the international cruise lines and cruise tourists, despite only gaining momentum in 2001 with the opening of the first cruise terminal in the Gulf. The Emirate welcomed over 625,000 cruise tourists to the city during the 2016/2017 season, reflecting an increase of over 15 per cent when compared to the 2015/2016 season, via 157 ship calls – including more than 20 world-class cruise lines.

Looking ahead, Dubai’s cruise industry is set for another strong performance during the ongoing 2017/2018 season, working in line to achieve its goal to welcome 1 million cruise tourists by the 2020/2021 season and serving as the winter home port for 10 of the world's leading international cruise lines. – TradeArabia News Service