The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has signed an exclusive contract with DP World to provide taxi services to lift tourists from and to The Hamdan bin Mohammed Cruise Terminal at Rashid Port in Dubai.

The RTA's Dubai Taxi Corporation will provide taxi and VIP limousine services to greet tourist disembarking the growing number of cruise liners arriving in the emirate.

The RTA said it has also inked an agreement with DP World to enhance the cooperation between the two parties to streamline the movement of trucks and step up safety on highways leading to Jebel Ali Port.

Dubai will receive 157 cruise ships during the current cruise tourism season 2016-2017, which started in October and will continue until next April. This translates to a 16 percent increase compared to last season which received 134 cruise ships.

It is expected that Rashid Port will receive 650,000 cruise tourists which means a 30 percent increase over the same period of last year.

Dubai Taxi Corporation, which has a fleet of more than 5,000 cabs, runs a range of services, and made more than 47 million trips serving about 94 million customers during 2015.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, CEO and chairman of DP World Group, said: “We are very keen to team up with RTA’s Dubai Taxi Corporation to ensure the provision of taxicabs for tourists arriving through the Cruise Terminal of Mina Rashid and offer them access to high-class transit services.”