Dubai heads for Dh1bn cruise industry
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Dubai’s director of cruise tourism Jamal Humaid Al Falasi has said he expects the country’s cruise industry to be worth Dh1bn by 2020.
The executive from the Department of Tourism was speaking onboard the Royal Caribbean ship Mariner of the Seas as it made its maiden call into the area.
“We are still very much on course for the cruise tourism sector to grow Dh840 in annual income by 2015. We are hopeful to double this number in 2020, as we continue are talks with several cruise companies, along with facilitating the opening of the new cruise terminal by Q1 2014.”
Local news operator Emirates 24/7 also quoted the CEO of Strategy & Tourism Sector Development, Dr. Ahmad A. Belhoul as saying the sector is growing by around eight to nine percent each year. The rate is also expected to hit double digit growth by 2020.
As it stands 21 cruise lines currently call at Dubai, this represents around 420,000 passengers across 110 ships.
