Dubai Cruise Tourism, part of Dubai Tourism, organised a three-city roadshow in China last week to showcase Dubai as an ideal embarkation destination on an international cruise itinerary for Chinese tourists.
The trip reinforces the growing prominence of China as an international source market, with visits to Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.
The roadshow, the second undertaken by Dubai Cruise Tourism over the past 12 months, showcased Dubai’s strong credentials as a cruise destination ahead of the 2015-2016 season, which commences in September.
Initiatives such as this have also contributed to the 2014-2015 cruise season being recognized as the best performing Dubai cruise season to date with an 11% increase over the 2012-2013 season, which held the record previously.
So far, the first half of 2015 has seen a 21% increase in ship calls and 42% increase in the number of cruise tourists.
This year’s roadshow featured a series of training sessions and workshops for China’s travel trade professionals, providing them with the capabilities to showcase Dubai’s cruise offerings to the Chinese vacationers.
The roadshow also included gatherings that allowed travel trade professionals access to representatives from industry leaders MSC, and Royal Caribbean International and provided a platform to discover and discuss the mutual benefits of promoting cruise tourism and the newly launched multi-entry UAE visit visa for cruise tourist.
Commenting on the event, Dubai Tourism senior vice president Hamad bin Mejren said: “There is an increasing appetite amongst Chinese tourists to discover destinations differently and cruising from Dubai is a concept they have embraced with enthusiasm.
"China ranks number 20 in the top source markets for Dubai’s Cruise Tourism; as we were able to communicate successfully about what makes Dubai a must-visit destination for the Chinese travellers during our previous roadshow and With this visit, we are hoping to build on that success and further boost the number of Chinese cruise tourists visiting the emirates.
“Chinese visitors to Dubai increased by 27% in the last year and we look forward to a similar increase in the numbers for cruise tourism sector as well.”
The Dubai cruise season runs from September to June, with 2015-2016 expected see a total of 128 cruise ship calls in the city, bringing more than 465,000 cruise tourists.
source: arabiantravelnews
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