Dubai Cruise Tourism, part of Dubai Tourism, recently organised a four city roadshow in India as part of its overall strategy to promote the city’s strengths as a growing international hub for cruise tourism. During the roadshow in Delhi, Hamad bin Mejrin, Executive Director, Dubai Tourism, announced of granting multiple entry visa to Indian cruise travellers.
“In the past, the visa has been a big challenge. Cruise Tourism is just 15 years old and it really started growing from 2006. We always faced visa challenge with Indian cruise travellers. With our efforts, we managed to show the importance of this segment and authorities granted mutli-entry visa to Indian travellers. Our cruise passenger from India was almost nonexistent due to visa hurdle. Now, it is over,” Mejrin told T3 on the sidelines of the roadshow. He further informed that multiple entry visa is valid for one month at a nominal visa fee.
Replying to a question over whether this visa is valid for other destinations also for Indian cruise travelers, Mejrin said they have Cruise Arabia Alliance and are working together as a region and coordinating with various authorities and cruiseline. Indian cruise travellers can spend a whole day at each destination, he stated. According to him, the announcement of new multi-entry visa for cruise passengers will further boost Indian outbound numbers to Dubai as this will be an added attraction to visiting Dubai.
“Cruise tourism in India is still a relatively new and evolving concept, but it has significant potential for development and growth as more people are eager to travel the world. We want to ensure that more Indian travellers are made aware of the unique attractions of cruise tourism – from on-board entertainment, to special deals for families, to incredible itineraries which include amazing destinations across the Arabian Gulf and beyond,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Carl Vaz, Director, DTCM India, stated that the introduction of multi-entry visa is a big step. “In 2015, our efforts will be at increasing the length of stay of Indian travelers. People can go on cruise and also stay in Dubai. Dubai offers multiple options for Indian travellers and cruise is now going to be a vital component,” Vaz said adding that Dubai received a total of 888,835 Indian hotel guests in 2013, representing growth of 16 per cent over the corresponding period of 2012. “We hope to cross 1 mn mark very soon,” he opined.
Dubai’s cruise season, which runs from October through to June, will see a total of 110 cruise ship calls carrying more than 381,000 passengers arriving in the city. Passenger numbers are set to rise by 19 per cent on the 2013/2014 season, meaning an additional 60,000 sea-travellers will embark, disembark or transit at Mina Rashid, Dubai. This season, the number of vessels using Dubai Cruise Terminal as their home port increases to six and these vessels are expected to make a total of 83 trips in comparison to 63 trips in the 2013-14 season.
