The 6-strong alliance encourages its members to share port and shoreside best practises, ensure a region-wide level of service and standards offered to both the cruise lines and the passengers and to jointly promote the area as a cruise destination.
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The news was shared with delegates on Day 2 of the Seatrade Middle East Cruise Forum 2015 being held in Doha and hosted by Qatar Tourism Authority. The announcement came at a timely point when the Kingdom of Bahrain also announced it would be receiving 68,000 passengers and 32 calls in 2015/16.
Speaking to delegates, Hassan Al Ibrahim, chief tourism development officer, QTA, said: ‘Qatar places huge importance on the cruise industry, both to diversify the tourism sector and Qatar’s overall economy. There are long-term plans to upgrade the country’s infrastructure, all of which will enable us to tap into the potential of cruise tourism by developing Qatar’s ports.
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‘We are building our infrastructure and human capital; we have a new destination brand that consolidates the industry’s efforts to attract more visitors; and, we are diversifying and enhancing the products and services across the entire industry.
‘For our part, QTA is working in partnership with partners across the public and private sectors, to plan, regulate, develop and promote the tourism sector, with the aim of achieving growth that is both exponential and sustainable.’
