THE first Seatrade Middle East Cruise Forum recently took place in Bahrain with executives from the major cruise lines and regional stakeholders gathering for a session of workshops and discussions.
The three-day event covered key topics such as how best to promote the industry in the region and one-to-one meetings at which participants considered business opportunities.
Ahmed Al Nuaimi, chairman of Qatar Tourism Authority led the keynote session during which the region’s tourism leaders discussed challenges and opportunities for increasing cruise tourism covering issues such as immigration and visas.
“It is clear that we need to work together to promote the region as an ideal cruise destination,” said Al Nuiami.
“We will benefit from more passenger arrivals than if we each focus as individual countries.”
Attendants discussed the possibility of creating a regional cruising association an idea which was put forward for further investigation in association with the region’s ports and tourism authorities.
Al Nuiami also suggested a regional visa which has been earmarked for separate discussion.
The conference offered networking opportunities and discussion forums where cruise line executives put forward their needs for facilities and infrastructure and it was noted that various countries have already expanded their ports to receive larger ships, such as Dubai, Oman and Bahrain, and others, including Qatar, are building new ports.
The cruise company executives told regional delegates that passenger experience is key to the success of the cruise tourism industry with well-organised and established onshore excursions paramount alongside effective marketing.
And the event established the need for targeting local cruise travellers to augment the traditional western passenger list.