Mombasa, Kenya: The Kenyan port of Mombasa mid January turned into pomp and pageantry as one of the largest cruise liner, MV Norwegian Dawn docked at the newly built multi million shillings Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Cruise terminal.

The 3,225 passenger who alighted from the luxurious cruise liner were welcomed by traditional African dancers, some of the tourists also joined the dancers as they made merry. Each passenger received a lovely cap from the port’s authority officials as a remembrance of their visit to Kenya.

The cruise liner which arrived from Seychelles docked at the 350 million shillings KPA cruise terminal that was officially opened in 2019, marking the start of the cruise tourism season for Kenya.

Norwegian Dawn, belonging to Norwegian Cruise Lines, docked at the Ports berth number 1 at the ultra-modern cruise handling terminal before passengers from 54 nationalities disembarked for the various tourism sites that included Parks, Game safaris and city tours.

The vessel was launched in 2002 and has a length of 294 meters with a draft of 8.5 meters and has the latest onboard hospitality facilities.

Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director, Capt. William Ruto, who went out to sea with his team escorted the vessel to the Port of call.

Captain Ruto to expressed delight at the gesture by NCL to call at the Port of Mombasa early in the year.

Ruto appreciated the call reiterating KPA’s support for cruise tourism in the country through investment in infrastructure to position the Port of Mombasa as a cruise tourism hub.

“This is just the beginning; we expect more vessels to call to port. We as KPA management and board have put infrastructure to support cruise tourism.”

“I want to assure all cruise lines that the port of Mombasa is safe,” said Ruto.

Captain Ruto also disclosed that the Port of Mombasa will receive another cruise ship next month, February thus boosting the country’s tourism revenue. The MD reiterated KPA’s commitment in working with all government agencies and other stakeholders in the tourism industry to help Kenya grow numbers and create a niche in the cruise tourism sector.

”We wish to reiterate our resolve to continue supporting the growth and sustainability of cruise tourism here. What you are seeing today is just the beginning of more to come. Our Port city has lots to offer in terms of tourist attractions,” said Mr. Benjamin Tayari, the

Port’s CEO who also accompanied the KPA board of director’s chairman.

Tayari said that KPA has invested heavily in infrastructure development to propel the growth of cruise tourism industry.

”We remain confident of more cruise liners to call at the Port of Mombasa with this kind of  ultra-modern cruise terminal,” Tayari said.

He said that KPA and key stakeholders will work to ensure that cruise ships calling at the Port spend more than a day to enable both passengers and crew time to experience what the Kenyan Coast has to offer.

The vessel master, Captain Asen Gyuruv, a Bulgarian national said that he was highly impressed with the reception the ship was accorded when it entered Kenyan waters.

”Right from the time Kenyan pilots boarded and guided us into the harbour to the wonderful reception as we received the certificate of the vessel’s first port call to the traditional dance song and music, we felt great,” the ship’s captain said, adding that they were looking forward to more return port calls.

And the ship’s local handling agents, Inchcape Shipping Limited through its Marine Service Manager; Mr Walid Timimi said that the port of Mombasa was gaining traction as an international cruise ship port of call.

”With good sound planning and the involvement of all key stakeholders, we hope to break the ceiling and receive many more cruisers here,” Timimi said.

The vessel sailed off from Mombasa after a 12 hour stop over as it headed to its next destination to the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar.

”It is truly a floating world on its own with a record number of 54 different nationalities on the side of passengers while the ship crew is made up of a further 51 nationalities,” Timimi said.

Speaking on behalf of David Chirchir, the acting chief executive officer Kenya Tourism Board (KTB), Betty Ichani from the board said that Kenya is targeting to receive 5.5 million tourists per year by 2027.

“KTB is excited about the number of cruise ships scheduled to dock here in the first quarter of 2024.  This will contribute to our target of 5.5 million tourists by 2027 and this will have a significant effect on our revenues,” she said. Mohamed Osman, Mombasa County executive committee member for Tourism and Trade, reiterated the devolved unit’s quest to make Mombasa a popular cruise ship destination of choice.