UAE: Dubai Parks And Resorts To Become Middle East’s Largest Multi-themed Leisure And Entertainment Destination

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has inspected the finishing touches at Legoland and Riverland Dubai at the Dubai Parks and Resorts, the largest joint theme park destination in the Middle East.

The two parks will be opened to the public in the next two days.

The project is spread across 30 million square feet of land, strategically located on Shaikh Zayed Road between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and is close to the Expo 2020 location.

The Dh13 billion Dubai Parks and Resorts development is set to become the Middle East’s largest multi-themed leisure and entertainment destination.

In addition to Legoland and Legoland Water Park, the resort will feature two additional theme parks: Motiongate Dubai, a Hollywood movie inspired theme park concept, and Bollywood Parks Dubai, a first-of-its-kind entertainment destination that will showcase the authentic Bollywood movie experience.

The destination will also host a Polynesian-themed hotel, and Riverland Dubai, a centrally located district of 220,000 square feet of leasable retail, dining and entertainment space connecting the three theme parks, water park and hotel.

Shaikh Mohammad said the cultural and tourist landmark would elevate the UAE’s position as a regional and global family entertainment and tourism destination.

“This national cultural achievement will add new building blocks to the structure of development and progress of the UAE,” Shaikh Mohammad added.

Shaikh Mohammad began his tour at the French village at Riverland Dubai, the gateway to Dubai Parks and Resorts, where he viewed the medieval French town and historic architecture of Europe from the late 1600s, as well as visited towers, water wheels and alleyways.

Riverland Dubai has four themed zones that offer a glimpse into some of the greatest eras of the past – from 1950s America at The Boardwalk to medieval France at The French Village, colonial India at India Gate and the 19th century themed Peninsula.

Shaikh Mohammad then proceeded to Legoland Dubai, where Raed Kajour Al Nuaimi, CEO of Dubai Parks and Resorts, described the creation of the largest world-class leisure and entertainment destination in the Middle East and North Africa, from design to construction.

Legoland Dubai is designed for families with children aged 2-12 and will feature over 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions, along with 15,000 LEGO model structures made from over 60 million LEGO bricks.

Al Nuaimi said construction began in March 2013 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2019, becoming the region’s first world-class integrated resort, cultural and entertainment destination for UAE citizens, expatriate residents, holiday makers and visitors to the UAE and Expo 2020. Shaikh Mohammad also visited Bollywood Parks Dubai, the first park of its kind, which includes five zones inspired by the greatest Bollywood blockbusters, and Motiongate Dubai, the region’s largest immersive Hollywood-inspired theme park.

Later, Shaikh Mohammad inspected work at Six Flags Dubai, the first branded theme park in the region. Planned to open in late 2019, Six Flags Dubai will be the fourth theme park at the Dubai Parks and Resorts destination and will include 27 rides and attractions for all ages across six themed zones, including Thrillseeker Plaza, Magic Mountain, Fiesta Texas, Great Escape, Great Adventure, and Great America, as well as a Polynesian themed family hotel.

By 2020, Dubai is projected to welcome 20 million tourists annually, which will boost efforts aimed at diversifying the sources of the nation’s revenues.

UAE: Bollywood, Hollywood enrolled in Dubai Tourism Drive Enrols Bollywood And Hollywood

Domes inspired by the royal palaces of India rise from a new Bollywood theme park under construction in Dubai, part of a drive to lure millions more tourists to the emirate.

It already boasts opulent shopping malls and numerous luxury resorts, but the Gulf city-state has even grander ambitions and the film industry is centre stage.

Bollywood Parks is part of Dubai Parks and Resorts (DPR) which is being developed as the region’s "largest integrated theme park resort".

Spread over 25 million square feet, it will feature three theme parks and a water park.

The resort is located near the region’s busiest port and close to where Dubai is expanding its second airport to make it the world’s largest.

The Bollywood theme park, a first of its kind inspired by the Indian popular movie industry, aims with its centrepiece Rajmahal Theatre, cinemas, rides and simulators to increase Dubai’s appeal to tourists from South Asia.

"We are trying to target a wide geographic area, but of course the majority will be from India and countries in close proximity to India ... and are big lovers of Bollywood," said its general manager, Thomas Jellum.

Around 14,000 construction workers are toiling round the clock to keep DPR on track for its October opening.

More than 14.2 million people visited Dubai in 2015, but the target is 20 million by 2020 when the Gulf emirate hosts the global trade fair Expo 2020.

Dubai has invested billions of dollars over more than a decade to put itself on the map as a regional business and tourism hub.

It has built a modern infrastructure unmatched by its regional peers.

And as turmoil hits traditional tourism destinations in the Middle East and North Africa, Dubai has capitalised on its reputation as a safe haven for tourism and business.

Tourism authorities have said hotel capacity was to reach 100,000 rooms in May, boasting that Dubai aims to "position itself as a top 10 global destination in terms of available hotel supply".

Hotel occupancy stood at 85 percent in the first quarter of 2016, with average nightly revenue of $142 per available room.

To increase tourist numbers, Dubai is looking for visitors far from beyond its Gulf neighbourhood.

"The benefits would be limited if we rely on markets that we are used to. We need to expand our marketing to new places," said Dubai Tourism chief Issam Kazim. Visitors from Gulf countries represented the largest regional group last year at 3.3 million, up 12.8 percent, with Saudis alone numbering 1.54 million.

But Indian visitors surged by 26 percent to 1.6 million, becoming for the first time the largest single nationality, while Britons rose 11 percent to 1.2 million.

"We do not want to focus on six or seven markets. We want to focus on 20 markets," Kazim told AFP.

Bollywood Parks will target visitors passing through Dubai and aims to "keep them a little bit longer", said Jellum.
Other theme parks are also being developed to increase the number of visitors.

Next door, Motiongate Dubai teams up three major Hollywood studios -- Dreamworks, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate. It features rides that take visitors across simulated settings like the Smurfs Village, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda, among 27 attractions based on 13 popular movies.

"Our target is everybody," said Motiongate Dubai general manager Guido Zucchi, including visitors from Gulf countries and elsewhere.

The theme parks are only the latest additions to a long list of entertainment venues in Dubai, including an indoor ski slope.

But authorities do not seem worried about saturation in Dubai’s tourism market. "We follow a long-term strategy," said Dubai Tourism’s Kazim.

He said authorities make sure "hotel room numbers do not rise before seeing that the number of visitors is increasing," stressing there is "continuous dialogue between the private sector and the government" over expansion.

Motiongate Dubai is also confident. "The tourists that Dubai is attracting every year, together with the expected ones for the following years, will absolutely be enough to create in this region an important destination, not only for tourism but also for leisure," said Zucchi.