Cruise season to begin later this month

Worldwide, as the cruise season begins towards the end of this month, the Sultanate of Oman is expected to receive its first ship around the same time.

As the 2019- 2020 season ended abruptly following the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, the upcoming season is expected to be the busiest of this decade.

According to crew-center.com, the Sultanate of Oman is expected to receive Mein Schiff 6 on October 28 (2,700 passengers), followed by AIDAbella on November 3 (2,500 passengers) and Viking Mars on November 10 (930 passengers).

The other notable names expected next month Azamara Quest, AIDAcosma (6,6000 passengers on November 14), MSC Opera (2,500 passengers on November 23) and Norwegian Jade (2,882 passengers on November 29).

The Sultanate-bound ships are also expected to call on the ports of Salalah in the South and Khasab in the North.

The cruise season resumed in the Sultanate of Oman in January 2021, with major of vessels calling at Port Sultan Qaboos in Muscat after the Ministry of Heritage and Tourism took several steps to welcome travellers from all over the world.

The resumption of cruise season is key to the business around Muttrah Souq, land transport operators, tour guides and operators.

In 2019, Sultan Qaboos Port received 163 cruise ships carrying 660,295 tourists and 66 cruise ships carrying 263,587 tourists in 2020.

The Port of Khasab received 70 cruise ships carrying 136,984 tourists in 2019 and 31 cruise ships carrying 125,110 tourists in 2020.

The Port of Salalah received 45 cruise ships carrying 69,060 tourists in 2019 and four cruise ships in 2020.

Meanwhile, cruise shipping will bounce back to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, said a report by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), the world’s largest cruise industry trade association.

The report said that more than 100 markets worldwide have reopened to cruising, and most cruise ships are back in service. The enthusiasm of travellers for cruises is evident in increasing passenger volumes, which are forecast to return to 2019 levels next year. We expect cruise to return to its original pre-pandemic growth forecast and fill the demand gap of 4.7 million passengers by 2025, the report said.