DUBAI, Dec 24: Dubai will build a second cruise ship terminal within a year to handle the growing number of tourist arrivals in the booming Gulf emirate, a local newspaper reported on Monday.

“Dubai will have a second terminal in the near future...” within a year, Dubai Cruise Terminal’s executive director Awad al-Ketbi told the English language Gulf News.

Officials at Dubai Cruise Terminal were not immediately available to confirm the report.

Gulf News quoted Ketbi as saying the new facility would have the same passenger handling capacity as the Port Rashid terminal, which was opened in 2001.

Port Rashid can handle up to two cruise ships simultaneously, the Dubai Cruise Terminal said on its website.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing said it expects the number of tourists visiting the emirate by cruise ship to more than double to 350,000 by 2010-2011.

Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, is a leisure hub in the oil-rich Gulf and draws millions of visitors every year, many of them Westerners.

The state-owned Dubai World development company announced in June the purchase of the Queen Elizabeth 2, one of the most famous cruise liners that has plyed the seas.

The QE2 will be berthed at a huge multi-million dollar palm-shaped artificial island and turned into a luxury hotel from 2009.—AFP