The next big cruise ship destination is the desert
But the Persian Gulf isn't the Red Sea, and I'd stake money on the Gulf seeing many more cruise ships soon.
Gulf states are scrambling to diversify from fossil fuels and looking to tourism. Several nations have invested in cruise infrastructure and created the Cruise Arabia Alliance to promote cruising.
The last decade has seen ultramodern cruise terminals mushroom in Bahrain, Kuwait, Muscat in Oman, Doha in Qatar, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the Emirates.
Dubai is the major hub with capacity for 14,000 cruise passengers a day and new dry docks for cruise-ship refits.
Saudi Arabia is developing its shipbuilding capacity. Italian company Fincantieri, which builds many cruise ships, opened a Saudi subsidiary in early 2024.
Saudi-owned Aroya Cruises launched its first ship last December and has plans to add two more. By 2030 Saudi Arabia aims to have 10 ports with cruise terminals and attract 1.3 million cruise passengers a year.
For now, Aroya Cruises is focused on the Middle Eastern market, while most passengers on international cruise lines are Europeans fleeing the winter. But given our good flight connections to Gulf cities, we have every reason to join them.
Cruising is an attractive option because accommodation and transportation is expensive in the Gulf, particularly on multi-country tours. The weather is very reliable and the Persian Gulf placid.
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West Australian
4 days ago
- West Australian
Morecote is a Swiss village with a sublime lakeside setting
Morcote was once feted as 'the most beautiful village of Switzerland'. It won the award in a competition run by a popular Swiss magazine, Schweizer Illustrierte, in partnership with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Almost a decade has passed since that accolade, but Morcote remains as picturesque and telegenic as you'd hope. It hugs Lake Lugano in the canton of Ticino, where southern Switzerland faces northern Italy. The nicest way to arrive in Morcote is by boat from Lugano city. It takes just half-an-hour, but there are only a few services per day, and I've missed the latest one, so I travel here instead with a combination of train and bus. If that sounds a hassle, believe me, in Switzerland, where the public transport network runs like clockwork 99.5 per cent of the time, it really isn't. About 40 minutes after departing Lugano, I'm walking by the shores of the lake in Morcote, where little wooden boats are bobbing in the water and couples are enjoying coffee, drinks and long, leisurely lunches outside the bars and eateries of the curving main street-cum-promenade. By these pastel-shaded arcaded buildings, stairways and lanes wind up into Morcote's well-preserved medieval core, where the bulk of the village's 3500 population reside. Further up on the hillside is the Church of Santa Maria del Sasso, a beautiful piece of gothic architecture from the 14th century. A lookout with benches above the church has terrific views over the bell tower and the lake, while a few Italian villages catch the eye across the water. In the Middle Ages, Morcote was a busy harbour and a loading point for goods destined for Milanese dukes. You can continue hiking upwards from the village, with this path connected to others on Ticino's network of trails (look out for the yellow signposts). But after you've caught your breath, I'd advise you to walk back past the church and down to Morcote's main street, just above which you'll find Parco Scherrer, one of Switzerland's most eclectic gardens. It was established by wealthy merchant Hermann Arthur Scherrer (1881-1956), who earned his fortune in the textile industry in St Gallen in northern Switzerland and splashed out indulging his twin passions for arts and travel. Parco Scherrer is set over terraced levels with whimsical artworks and follies surrounded by pools and fountains and an exotic flurry of trees and plants, including palms, pines, camellias, wisteria, oleander, cypresses, camphor, bamboo and eucalyptus. Labelled a 'Garden of Wonders', the park welcomed its first visitors in 1965 and is still free to enter. Some parts feel more Mediterranean, others from further afield. One moment you're standing by classical-style columns, the kind you'd find at a Greek or Roman temple, the next you're by a Middle Eastern-inspired house or perusing sculptures of Thai elephants or scantily-clad African women amid the foliage. The views of the lake enhance this garden's charm and I'm fortunate to have the place more or less to myself late on this spring afternoon. In summer, I could imagine it would feel a lot more crowded — and not quite as blissful. + Steve McKenna was a guest of Ticino Tourism and Switzerland Tourism. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication. + For more information on visiting Morcote, see + To help plan a trip to Ticino and Switzerland, see and
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
It used to be farmland. Now this suburb is its own village
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The Age
5 days ago
- The Age
It used to be farmland. Now this suburb is its own village
In August 2015, the factory opened an adjoining deli that serves freshly made cheese and Italian produce. It's since grown to be a destination eatery, and even welcomes thousands of people each March for its annual Ricotta Festival. 'We brought something unique to Thomastown that attracts people to this area. Otherwise, there's not really any reason why people come to Thomastown, to be frankly honest with you,' says Serena Zen, head of marketing. Other cheese factories also operate in the suburb. Florida Cheese moved its operation there in 1998, while Pantalica Cheese also has a local manufacturing facility. These factories are indicative of Thomastown's historical connection with the dairy industry. 'It's a big area … there were a lot of Italian migrants who settled here and started businesses near where they were living,' says Zen. 'Thomastown has a lot of food manufacturers … It's good to be near the city … It gives you more contact with the final customer.' Zen, who lives across the border in nearby Lalor, also says the That's Amore eatery fulfils a rising demand for modern venues within the suburb. 'A lot of young families are moving into these areas, and you see a demographic change,' she says. 'All of those young families are looking for places to have a good brunch. And there's nothing around. But we're here.' Roads and Transportation Thomastown station, located on the Mernda train line, was rebuilt and modernised in 2011. Keon Park station is also located in the suburb's south, on the border with Reservoir. The area is serviced by the Western Ring Road, which connects Melbourne's western and northern suburbs, although it often faces criticism for heavy traffic. Stalled plans to build an Outer Metropolitan Ring Road would link the Princes Freeway to Thomastown, likely easing congestion for drivers. For Chris Scull, who grew up in Thomastown and now volunteers for the Whittlesea Historical Society, his local transport network is convenient when compared with some other outer Melbourne suburbs. 'It's good because you're on the city fringe,' Scull says. 'I can go 10 minutes towards Bundoora and there's a huge park over there … But you've also got good transportation links.' This urbanisation would have been unimaginable during the early twentieth century, when Thomastown was little more than a farming town. It wasn't until the mid-1900s that it experienced a population boom. Historical census data shows that only 1500 residents lived in Thomastown in 1954. Today this number has ballooned to over 20,000. The area has changed a lot since Scull's childhood. But he says that this isn't necessarily a bad thing – the suburb still has plenty of room for growth. 'They're still filling up little pockets that are left … Some of the flats around Station Street and some of the houses there, I don't see why you couldn't knock them down and put some decent apartments in. 'A lot of the houses here are the same age as me, so they're getting to be 50 years old,' Scull says. 'And it's not really sad because they're not great'. Modern Thomastown Liz Skitch moved to the outer-north suburb a decade ago, shortly before the birth of her first child. She and her partner fell in love with a house with a backyard so big that it was 'basically a paddock'. They put in an offer straight away. 'At the end of the day, we couldn't afford Preston. We were in a share house in Preston, we were about to start a family, and we looked just a little bit further out,' Skitch says. But while the house (a triple-fronted brick veneer, with plenty of fruit trees and grapevines) is what brought the young family to Thomastown, Skitch says that the community is what made her want to stay. 'The minute we arrived, all the neighbours came to meet us. Old Frank around the corner was giving me lessons on how to bag the grapevines … and his wife, Theresa, was teaching us how to make sausages,' she says. Skitch now manages the Thomastown Neighbourhood House, a not-for-profit organisation that runs programs from a room at the local library. She's passionate about engaging the community, which she says is evolving but still remains the culturally rich place it has always been. 'It's kind of a sad time because a lot of the oldies are dying and selling up. But it's an exciting time because you've got the funky new families moving in, and we're seeing more diversity. 'We were really excited around the time of the [plebiscite] on gay marriage, when we started to see yes voters in Thomastown. It's becoming more progressive.' Skitch and volunteers at the Neighbourhood House have even invented a special nickname for their suburb: Promisetown. 'There's no snobbery. That's what I love … it's really down to earth. It's always been a place for underdogs,' she says. 'It's the land of opportunity.'
