Abu Dhabi cruise industry set for Miami

Abu Dhabi will has confirmed it will take its multi-faceted cruise destination proposition to the international industry at Cruise Shipping Miami, one of the sector’s leading business gatherings. The event runs for five days from today. At the same time, Abu Dhabi is also preparing to host the first P&O liner to call in the UAE capital. “We will be in Miami to spell out to the event’s highly influential audience the case for using the UAE capital as a port of call for winter itineraries and its advantages as a home port station,” said Noura Al Dhaheri, acting leisure products development, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. “Last year, the show brought together more than 1,800 cruise line owners and operators from 66 companies, with a post-event survey illustrating that 56 per cent of these were sourcing new destinations – precisely the audience we want to hear the Abu Dhabi message.” Aurora Abu Dhabi’s roll out to the international industry comes as it prepares to welcome P&O’s Aurora to its Mina Zayed temporary cruise terminal. The Aurora, which has a 2,865-capacity, will make its first port-of-call at Mina Zayed on March 20 as part of a 13-night voyage from Singapore to Dubai. “This is great news for Abu Dhabi and adds to the growing list of operators now using Mina Zayed,” said Al Dhaheri. “We will leverage our host port and transit port capability in Miami by drawing attention to existing cruise services to Abu Dhabi which, vitally, run during the winter season when traditional heavyweight cruise markets, such as Europe, the Caribbean and North America, slow down for the cooler months. “The current, 2011/12 season has been Abu Dhabi’s busiest to date with 77 calls from cruise ships delivering 160,000 cruise passengers to the emirate.”