TWO of the world's largest cruise companies have agreed to return to Bahrain once the season begins in October, it was revealed yesterday.

German operators Aida and Towie are together expected to make 33 calls to the Khalifa Bin Salman Port between November and April, Culture Ministry tourism marketing and promotion acting director Mohammed Al Subaie told the GDN.

He said talks were underway with other operators and Bahrain could host up to 60 port calls by cruise liners during the coming season, which will end in April.

"While Aida will come every Wednesday, Towie will come every Friday," Mr Al Subaie told the GDN.

"Discussions are also being held with Costa Cruises and Royal Caribbean, who have expressed willingness to come to Bahrain."

He said that if the two other companies also signed up to Bahrain, it would mean a return to a full cruise season for the first time since visits were disrupted by last year's unrest.

"After the last two seasons were severely affected due to the unrest, we spoke to several of the cruise companies who said they were reluctant to come to Bahrain because insurance premiums had been substantially increased," he said.

"They said they could look at Bahrain favourably if there were other incentives so we took a decision to do that."

Cruise companies have expressed willingness to return to Bahrain after a raft of measures were agreed to offset higher insurance costs.

"We will in the next few weeks talk with cruise companies to tell them what Bahrain has to offer," said Mr Al Subaie.

Increased insurance charges for docking in Bahrain in the wake of unrest mean each cruise operator will have to pay an additional $ 300,000 (BD113,129) over the course of a season.

However, the GDN reported last week that Bahrain had decided to halve port fees for cruise ships in a bid to lure back operators when the new season opens.

Incentives

Tourism companies are also offering discounts worth tens of thousands of dinars, while APM Terminals Bahrain which manages the Khalifa Bin Salman Port has reduced its charges for passengers from BD3 to BD2 each.

Passenger charges could also be waived by the General Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs, which may act as a "sponsor" for each visitor arriving on a cruise.

The organisation would also continue to waive crew charges and will look into the potential of waiving other charges, added sources.

In addition, they said shipping or port agents who handle cruise liners coming to Bahrain have pledged to slash their prices of up to BD700 by 25pc.

News that the country's cruise industry could be back on course is a welcome boost to the country's beleaguered tourism sector.

According to estimates, each cruise ship tourist spends at least $ 125 (BD47) during visits to Bahrain, which brings in around $ 300,000 (BD113,400) to the economy per visit.

But only 29 of the scheduled 50 port calls by various liners were made to Bahrain in the 2010-2011 season, which was abruptly suspended because of unrest - resulting in a loss of nearly 50,000 tourists.

German cruise company Aida was the only operator to schedule stops in Bahrain during the 2011-2012 season, but it made only seven out of 13 planned visits and cited massive insurance premiums as the reason for cancelling port calls.