Dubai is staking its claim to becoming a regional cruise capital with plans to build a major terminal aimed at luring more operators and ships to the Gulf.
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DP World, the marine terminal operator, yesterday announced plans to build the terminal and a recreational and retail "seaport village" and a souq at Port Rashid.
The cruise industry is a major part of Dubai's tourism strategy and it has grown substantially in the past decade.
"Cruise line companies are demanding that we show them what is our expansion plan," said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the chairman of DP World. He said the new facilities would also be open to the public.
The company declined to provide a value for the project or say how it would be financed, only stating that the figure would be announced when the tender was issued.
"The concept of Dubai is always build it and people will come," Mr bin Sulayem said. "And actually, build it and people are coming."
The main terminal building is expected to be completed by the end of next year, he said. The facilities will be able to accommodate five ships at a time, whereas the existing facilities can handle only two ships together.
Dubai opened a relatively basic and functional cruise terminal building at Port Rashid last year, which will remain in place.
In 2001, Dubai received just 6,900 passengers on a handful of cruises that stopped in the region, according to the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. Last year, the emirate received 103 ship calls carrying 390,000 passengers. By 2015, Dubai hopes to attract 180 cruise calls, carrying 625,000 passengers.
Next year, TUI is to start cruises from Dubai.
"The base market is still very small and there is much more opportunity for double-digit growth," Gianni Onorato, the president of Costa Cruises, recently told The National.
But major operators have said that a range of issues are holding back growth of the sector, including piracy, the need for many passengers to buy multiple visas to exit and re-enter the UAE on a cruise ship, and limited destinations for ships in the region.
Abu Dhabi is also increasingly focusing on the cruise sector as part of its tourism strategy.
On average, cruise tourists spend more than US$300 (Dh1,101) per person per visit, while crew members spend about $150, research by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority shows.
Abu Dhabi has plans to attract 300 ships and more than 600,000 passengers a year by 2030.
