UAE to simplify visas for cruise passengers
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Plans for a multiple entry visa for cruise ship passengers entering the UAE are expected to be in place by September, according to Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM).
Currently the visa process involves fees as well as paperwork for tourists who don’t get visa upon arrival.
The multiple entry visas will help remove these obstacles and should create a wider market from countries that currently have to go through the current visa application process. Arriving ships with multiple nationalities should also be cleared far quicker and thus enabling more streamlined port process.
Dubai, with its most modern cruise facilities in the region, capable of accommodating five ships at a time aims to become a regional cruise hub and no barriers to entry such as complicated visa processes. By the end of this year Dubai expects to handle 420,000 cruise tourists, 450,000 in 2013 and in excess of half a million by 2015.
