JEDDAH, 23 May 2005 — The Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS) being held in Dubai from June 22 to Sept. 2, is poised to register 10 percent growth in the number of visitors. “This is because the annual event encourages internal tourism, as it has been designed primarily as a total family experience offering a gamut of activities for everyone across the age barrier,” DSS chief Executive Officer Saeed M. Al Nabouda told a press conference at Le Jeddah Meridien yesterday.
Over its eight years of existence, the DSS has shown an “amazing growth rate” reaching up to 1.51 million visitors and AED1.56 billion total spend in 2004. “A chunk of the shoppers came from Saudi Arabia and the rest of the GCC and other Arab countries as the event has become a powerful magnet for families from the region in seeking fun-filled holidays amid familiar surroundings and cultural similarities,” he said, adding that the DSS offers Saudi families a combination of Western and Eastern experience in an Arab cultural environment.
Al Nabouda and Capt. Omar Alshamsi, head of the PR and Protocol Department at the Dubai Department of Naturalization & Residency, and Dubai Tourism & Commerce Marketing representation office in Saudi Arabia, earlier held a road show with the participation of a number of travel agents and tour operators. Similar road shows are set in Riyadh today, Dammam tomorrow and Bahrain on Wednesday.
Inviting Saudi families to experience new Dubai in large numbers, Al Nabouda said Dubai was not the same any longer as the visitors would find tremendous changes in the infrastructure and facilities on offer. The Ibn Battuta Mall and the Mall of the Emirates are among the examples. The Mall of the Emirates boasts one of the world’s first mountain-themed, all-inclusive indoor ski resort.
Alshamsi gave an overview of the visa procedure that is in vogue for Saudi citizens and other residents. “Visitors applying for visas through the Internet may be allowed to stay up to two months. Those who obtain visas on arrival are given a maximum of 30-day stay,” he said, adding that residents belonging to certain professions including labor are not eligible for on-arrival visas.
The eighth DSS, being held under the direction of Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Defense Minister General Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al-Maktoum, will be an altogether new experience for the Saudi families, as it offers lot of shopping and entertaining options through its 10 theme-specific weeks organized jointly by various government departments, 13 key sponsors and the Dubai Shopping Malls Group at a number of participating shopping malls.
Family tourists can participate in a series of fun and entertainment events spread across 10 weeks of the event.
DSS 2005 starts with the Dubai Municipality-organized “Flower Surprises” on June 22 and ends with the Dubai Development Board-organized “Back-2-School Surprises” on Sept. 2.
The other theme-specific weeks are the “Sweets Surprises,” “Arts Surprises,” “Color Surprises,” “Ice Surprises,” “Adventure Surprises,” “Cartoon Surprises,’’ “Heritage Surprises,” “Knowledge Surprises”, and the concluding ‘Back-2-School Surprises.’
“DSS focuses on grooming children for a better tomorrow by creatively using their summer holidays through the DSS mascot Modhesh and his ‘fun City’ which is the event’s biggest summer venue at its new Dubai World Trade Center site.
The large indoor facility has a number of entertaining zones and play areas with specific themes and entertainment programs for the whole family. The venue, running between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m., offers a wide choice of fun for vacationing children, parents and visitors. A number of seminars, workshops, entertainment shows and plays are also organized for the visiting families.
A promotion by the hospitality industry is the “Bundle of Surprises,” which includes free airport transfers and venue transfers to DSS activity sites, complimentary breakfast and steep discounts while the grand DSS raffle gives visitors a chance to win one world-class BMW 740Li 2006 and a bumper prize of AED100,000 as part of the DSS promotion.
One out of 5,000 participants in the raffle draw will get the prize against the purchase of coupons of AED200 available from various venues. There are also individual scratch “n” win coupons, raffles and discounts offered by participating malls and outlets all throughout the period of the event. Various shopping malls from the Dubai Shopping Malls Group are offering special DSS events and organize special programs for each of the 10 themed weeks. The fun events in malls and outside will be held in temperature-controlled venues.
The delegates also announced special DSS packages offered by various airlines. “Emirates, the official carrier of the DSS, has come up with special holiday packages for the DSS, offering a range of prices, properties and benefits especially for vacationers from the Kingdom,” Jeddah-based Emirates Sales Manager Amer Akhtar said. “Visitors can choose between city and beach hotels, three- to five-star properties including the Fairmont, Grand Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and Mina A’Salaam,” he said.
“With hotel prices starting from $37 per person per night sharing, these packages are valid for the duration of the event,” Akhtar said, adding that each visitor will receive an additional 10 kg free baggage allowance on their return journey from the DSS. Emirates is also planning to operate 50 extra flights from the Kingdom — 25 each from Riyadh and Dammam — to Dubai during the more than two-month DSS.
Dubai’s Awaqaf and Islamic affairs department, e-government, TV, Civil Aviation, land department, department of economic development and civil defense are among the other agencies supporting the festival.
