Government of Timor-Leste

One thousand seven hundred passengers came to visit Dili, Dare and Maubara on February 12^th on the cruise ship of the P&O Cruises of the Carnival Australia group.

The National Director of Marketing, Tourism and International Relations of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, José Quintas, who was the Coordinator of the event, reported that the P&O cruise ship, after leaving Australia, comes to Timor-Leste and continues to Comodo, Bali Singapore, and returns to Australia. This ship is one of the largest cruises in the world.

José Quintas said that the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has learned from the ship's agency that there will be three more visits this year, in March, June and September.

The Government, through the Ministry of Tourism, intends to create a regulation to control the entry of cruise ships in Timor-Leste to minimize the negative impact of oils and dirty waters that can destroy the variety of sea life. This concern is based on the negative experience of Caribbean islands and the Pacific countries. 

The Director explained that this visit was held in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and the authorities of the port of Dili, the Immigration and Quarantine Services, the PNTL, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Environment, the Customs and the Municipality of Dili.

According to the Director, in the future, the Port of Dili needs to be transformed into a special port for cruise ships, as it is a unique port in the Asia-Pacific region, which is located in the center of a city and with easy access to the travel agencies that want to include it in their package holidays.

The Organizing Committee considers that this cruise ship represents a great economic benefit for local people who sell handicrafts, coconut water and other products, for local transports, even though the visit only lasted for eight hours.

Madalena, a seller of handicraft products, is very pleased because during the visit she sold between 500 and 1,000 dollars, which will assist her family's economy. Therefore, she asked the competent bodies to continue to organize such events because, not only they help sellers to earn income, but they also promote local products.