Today, Dubai’s seafront developments are no longer limited to commercial import or export activities. They are true lifestyle destinations, helping drive the agenda for multi-faceted tourism and working as a manifestation of Dubai’s ambition to be the world’s most visited city by 2025. Amid a rapidly evolving global tourism landscape, seafront destinations and experiences contribute rekindling the city’s connection to the sea, providing more options and easier ways for people to explore their own maritime journey.
Navigating a market defined by great diversity and rapid evolution
Home to over 200 nationalities with many millions of tourists choosing to visit Dubai each year, the common denominator remains the desire of people to seek out unique experiences that are easily accessible and truly extraordinary. Seafront destinations such as Dubai Harbour have a huge role to play by offering upscale living, retail and hospitality choices or hosting events that help create vibrant and comprehensive lifestyle offerings, becoming unique destinations in their own right.
This is a very exciting time for Dubai Harbour and indeed the wider maritime tourism industry in Dubai. As the only dedicated cruise port in the Arabian Gulf and the largest in the Eastern Hemisphere, Dubai Harbour Cruise Terminal is targeting 300,000 passengers this cruise season, roughly four times the numbers from our debut cruise season last year with a 40% increase in ship calls.
Added to this we have a longer cruising season of over eight months stretching into the early summer, as well as an increasing demand for larger and newer ships from the cruise operators. The recovery from the impact of the pandemic is clear, as we record a landmark increase of over 300 percent visitor ship, and a 39 percent increase in ship calls. Thus, confirming an encouraging momentum for a new era of maritime growth and development in Dubai, as well as the wider region.
Anchoring the growth of tourism through world-class marinas
Dubai’s superyacht industry is also expected to grow exponentially over the coming years. The leadership has put in place a series of innovative initiatives that help drive this agenda, including opening up for regulations, attractive foreign direct investment opportunities, easier visa procedures and continued investment in new living and entertainment developments.
We are seeing a rapid expansion of Dubai’s yachting sector accelerated by significant investments in world class facilities and lifestyle offerings, within close proximity to the marinas. Today, the city is well-known for its 15 marinas with over 3,000 docking spots that can accommodate both – super yachts and mega yachts. Dubai Harbour Marinas is the region’s largest marina, featuring close to 700 berths that can accommodate yachts up to 160m in length. The world-class facility provides guests and crew with a full home port solution in one of the world’s most spectacular cruising grounds, with direct access to the open waters of the Arabian Gulf with no air draught limits.
Setting sail meaningful innovation for the future
Dubai also continues to play a leading role across the wider maritime industry. Earlier this year the Dubai International Boat Show, held at Dubai Harbour featured over AED 2.5bn worth of boats and yachts with over 1,000 companies and brands participating from around the world. With no signs of slowing down, it was once again proven that the maritime industry is well placed to support a new era of tourism for the city.
During my time at the Dubai International Boat Show, in conversation with several boat owners and yachting enthusiasts – one thing was clear. The coming years are set to redefine the future of not just maritime culture but also ignite a whole new scope for the world of seafront experiences, whilst contributing to key developments in the tourism sector. Sustainability, for example, is very much going to be part of cruise offerings and yachting agendas. Dubai Harbour has already started to see a wave of green cruising, having recently welcomed two of our homeporting ships this season – the AIDAcosma and Costa Toscana. Hybrid and electric yachts, along with advanced navigation systems are another growing trend helping spur on a new area of sustainable growth for the industry.
It’s an exciting time for the maritime industry and there’s no better testament to its evolution than Dubai. Setting its mark across bucket list destinations, the city continues to be a source of inspiration. Through evolved maritime offerings that are carefully curated using purpose-built infrastructure, Dubai’s tourism industry is ready for a maritime revolution – one that we look forward to investing in.
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