The cruise tourism industry in Dubai is in for a busy 2012-13 season as a record 115 ship calls are expected to bring in more than 400,000 tourists into the emirate till June 10 next year, said top officials of Dubai  Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM).

The cruise tourism season in Dubai began last week with the arrival of Cruise ship Costa neo Romantica, which was on her maiden call to the emirate, said the officials of DTCM, which manages and operates the Dubai Cruise Terminals.

The season ahead is very promising with the Cruise Tourism roster confirming arrival of 115 cruise ship calls with an expected throughput of over 400,000 cruise tourist in the season that will last up to June 10, 2013, they added.

The cruise ship Costa neo Romantica carrying more than 1,000 passengers, arrived in Dubai from Abu Dhabi on October 9 and left for Khassab (Oman) after two days.

Dubai cruise tourism department arranged for a welcome ceremony followed by plaque exchange with the ship’s captain Marco Derin from Italy to commemorate the maiden call.

The event was attended by Giovanni Fatelli, the CG of Italy as well as representatives from general directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs, Dubai Customs, Dubai Police and DP World.

The upcoming season will add another world-class cruise line, TUI cruises from Germany to the home porting list of cruise lines in Dubai, the Dubai tourism officials said.

The German cruise ship 'Mein Schiff 2' (which means My Ship) will make her inaugural call to Dubai on November 3, the first venture of the cruise line in this region. The ship will make 20 calls to Dubai in the season bringing over 75,000 cruise touristsm, they added.

Costa Crociere from Italy, one of the longstanding loyal partner of Dubai’s cruise tourism will have two ships from its fleet deployed in the region operating 4 nights, 5 nights and 7 nights cruises out of Dubai.

One of the two ships to be deployed is Costa Atlantica, she will make her maiden call to Dubai in December.

The list of “new” in the season for Dubai continues, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, US will deploy cruise ship 'Serenade of the Seas' to operate the weekly cruises in the region which will be fully refurbished by then with all latest and modern amenities.

This will be the maiden call of the ship to Dubai as well. One of the world’s leading luxury cruise line Celebrity Cruises will make its UAE debut with the call of their cruise ship Celebrity Solstice to Dubai on November 11.

On the other hand, Aida Cruises from Germany will continue its operation in the region with Dubai as their home port with the deployment of CS Aida Blu. Aida cruises is one of the cruise lines who pioneer in 2006 to position a ship in this region operating cruises out of Dubai.

In addition to the four home porting cruise lines in Dubai, in the season 2012 / 13 it will receive ships from the fleets of over 15 different world’s leading cruise lines around the globe. This reaffirms the emirate’s strong emergence in the cruise industry.

The initiatives and continual efforts of DTCM has reaffirmed Dubai’s position as the cruise hub of the region and it is a combination of factors that are driving Dubai’s cruise tourism business towards robust growth, the officials said.

Dubai has been constantly enhancing its facilities and services in line with the business growth and accordingly the Dubai Cruise Terminals will have three dedicated facilities to cater the cruise lines and visitors this season.

Spanning over 20,000 sq m and a pier length of 1900 m which could conveniently accommodate up to six ocean going ships simultaneously, Dubai will have the largest facility in the Middle East dedicated for cruise tourism, they added.-TradeArabia News Service