Dubai Tourism aggressively promotes its 2015-16 cruise season

In an effort to boost cruise passenger numbers from the India market, Dubai Cruise Tourism conducted a four-city roadshow in the sub-continent.

The road show highlighted the emirate as a destination to for an international cruise itinerary. The five-day road show was the second undertaken by Dubai Cruise Tourism in the past 12 months. The objective of the event was to showcase Dubai’s strong credentials as an international cruise stop ahead of its 2015-16 season, which commences in September.

India is part of Dubai Tourism’s strategy to reach out to developing source markets. The emirate has emerged as a popular choice for Indian tourists, with visitor numbers growing by eight percent in 2014.

The visiting delegation conducted a series of workshops and networking events in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi. The road show was accompanied by cruise companies Costa Crociere, Royal Caribbean International and MSC along with the Dubai Cruise Tourism team.

Jamal Humaid Al Falasi, director of Dubai Cruise Tourism, said: “India ranked as the number two top source markets for visitors to our emirate in 2014, and we look forward to seeing it in a similar position within cruise tourism as well. India is a key market within our cruise tourism strategy, and we have seen sustained interest in Dubai and the wider Gulf region among Indian travellers.”

Dubai Cruise Tourism saw an overall season-on-season increase of 15% in total number of ship calls and a 42% increase in cruise tourists during the 2014-2015 cruise season, which equates to a 11% increase in cruise tourists over previous season of 2012-2013. The first half of 2015 saw a 21% increase in ship calls and a 42% increase in cruise tourists compared to first half of 2014 – again surpassing the previous best first half performance registered in 2013 by 11%.