Abu Dhabi welcomed a record number of passengers during its cruise season from October 2014 until May 2015, with the last ship, Seven Seas Voyager, calling at Zayed Port on 2nd May, 2015, according to a statement from Abu Dhabi Port.

Abu Dhabi's 2014-2015 cruise season welcomed a record 200,407 passengers and 94 ship-calls, of which the majority are from Europe and America, the statement said.

Europeans in particular are attracted to the Gulf region by its cultural offering and the winter sun, with half of the cruisers originating from Germany and the next two biggest groups coming from Italy and the UK.

A survey conducted by the Abu Dhabi Ports this year on the activities of visiting cruise tourists when they are in the Emirate, revealed that more than 61,000 visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and 70,028 chose to go shopping at the malls. A further 43,700 explored the Heritage Village while others enjoyed Big Bus tours, visits to Al Ain or trips to the Arabian Nights Village, just some of the many attractions on offer.

Capt. Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, said, "It is hard to quantify the amount cruise passengers contribute to the economy, but these figures supplied to us by the tour leaders and cruise shipping agents give a good indication of the impact of this growing industry.

"Increasing tourism is a key objective of the UAE's leaderships' plans to diversify the economy. Our work to build and enhance this valuable industry, in conjunction with the Tourism and Culture Authority Abu Dhabi and our partners in Cruise Arabia, is clearly delivering solid and impressive results".

Construction is now well underway on the new permanent cruise terminal building, and work has started on the facilities to develop Sir Bani Yas Island into the regions first island stopover destination.
Source: WAM