A glorious welcome ceremony to mark the maiden calls of Costa Favalosa and Aida Blu cruise ships to Dubai was organized by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) at the Dubai Cruise Terminal.
Costa Favalosa is a new ship of Costa Crociere of Italy, inaugurated on July 2, 2011 in Trieste. The 114,500 tonnage ship has a carrying capacity of 3800 passengers and 1110 crew.
Aida Blu is a new ship from Aida Cruises, a German cruise liner, with a capacity to carry 2050 passengers and 607 crew members.
Costa Favalosa and Aida Blu will operate weekly cruise itinerary in the Arabian Gulf with Dubai as the home port. Favalosa will bring more than 100,000 passengers in 19 calls to Dubai and Aida Blu will account for more than 50,000 cruise passengers to Dubai in 13 calls to Dubai in the 2011/12 cruise season.
Upon the closing of this year, Dubai will receive 135 cruise ships with 375,000 tourists while 2012 is expected to attract 150 cruise ships with approximately 425,000 passengers.
Hamad bin Mejren, DTCM Executive Director for Business Tourism, said that additional cruise terminal facilities to cater the anticipated growth of the business are to be constructed in cooperation with DP World. The anticipated number of ship calls is 150 with a passenger turnaround of more than 600,000 passengers by 2015.
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World Maritime News Staff, December 20, 2011; Image: ADPC