Dubai's cruise tourism is steaming into a bright future, with phenomenal growth in recent years and the promise of even bigger things to come. The Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing says the cruise sector is poised for growth this year of 70 to 90 per cent over last year, and for 100 per cent by 2002.

DTCM Projects Director Charles Heath said, "From a mere eight calls by liners in 1996, visits have grown to 44 calls a year last year and we have 40 confirmed calls for 2001 so far, and this will increase further. "It would be difficult to project the growth of the industry beyond 2002, but we can expect a minimum growth of 45 to 50 per cent a year over the next five years."

Dubai has positioned itself as the ultimate cruising destination in the Arabian Gulf, he said. "As a city, Dubai is far ahead of all other destinations in the GCC in terms of cruise calls, generating a good amount of hotel room nights per year while the ships are docked in Dubai," he said. Heath said the UAE's cruise tourist intake is much higher than that of Oman, which has built a sound cruise tourism base.

Dubai began to tap the potential of this dynamic sector in the mid-1990s. It set up a division in the DTCM in 1997 to spearhead the growth in cruise tourism. The only obstacle, however, was the lack of a dedicated cruise terminal, but this problem will be eliminated within a few months.

"Although we don't have a firm inauguration date yet, we hope to go for a soft opening in April," Heath said. The problems and prospects of cruise tourism in this part of the world will be discussed at length at the forthcoming Seatrade Middle East Cruise Conference to be held from January 23 to 25.

Top professionals such as Fabio Capocaccia, President of the MedCruise Association; Peter Cox, Director of Cunard Line; Lawrence Dessler, President of Dessler and Associates, and Jaswant Lalwani, CEO of Ocean Cruise Line, will deliver keynote addresses. The conference will showcase the region's potential and discuss steps needed to accelerate the growth of cruise tourism.

It will also feature leading maritime experts who will discuss the changing nature of the cruise industry and make an analysis of the global deployment of cruise capacity relating to the region. DTCM Director-General Khaled bin Sulayem said, "Playing host to this conference is a tremendous achievement for the department and Dubai.

The cruise conference presents a great opportunity for us to network with other leaders in the cruise industry and to showcase our port, terminal and the attractions of the emirate to a high-profile audience." Heath said that about 300 delegates and industry professionals will attend the conference. This is the second cruise conference to be held here. The first one was held in 1999 and 220 delegates attended.