UAE- Global Village closes with the attendance of 5.3 million visitors

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Global Village concluded it 20th season with the highest ever guest attendance at 5.3 million and business transactions worth Dh 2.2 billion and closed to a packed house over its final weekend when more than 90000 guests attended the park while the Lebanese superstar Nancy Ajram took to the stage a spectacular concert to be the last Friday concert for this season before it concluded on April 9th.

The 20th season displayed many highlights as it celebrated two decades of pioneering one of the best outdoor cultural and retail experiences in the region along with exceptional entertainment offerings. Guests of Global Village were clearly delighted with the 20th edition which was exhibited in the Guests Happiness Index that ranked the destination at 9 out of 10. The Guests Happiness Index is a survey that ranks guest experiences throughout the season with a rating score that Global Village constantly strives to increase to meet the satisfaction of its guests across all touch points.

Ahmad Hussain Bin Essa CEO of Global Village said "We listen to our guests and their feedback is paramount for our growth. We were very committed to ensuring that the 20th anniversary season of Global Village would exceed expectations of all our guests and now with the overall high score of 9 out of 10 on the Guests Happiness Index; we believe we have achieved our goal for this season. We were able to gather the cultures of more than 75 countries during this season while making our long and steady strides towards making Global Village among the top family entertainment destinations in the world."

Bin Essa added "We are proud of being an Emirati brand that started two decades ago with a dream and continued evolving until it has echoed the world over as one of the most significant tourist destinations in Dubai under the guidance of our wise leadership. After closing the curtains on our 20th season we now begin a new chapter for the coming season where we prepare more surprises and unique experiences that will enrich and revamp the entertainment industry which differentiates Global Village that follows the footsteps of Dubai's vision in embracing hundreds of cultures and nationalities from all over the world."

This season carried some special activations such as 'Hakawati' which was targeted to children and took place over 3 days as part of the Arab Reading Challenge initiative that was launched earlier this year by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. This traditional Arab art of the story-telling culture of the Middle East region came alive at Global Village as it brought in a story-teller to read out stories to children in a comfy surrounding with special background music and lighting that brings the story characters to life. The story-telling included interactive sessions with the kids through an exciting medium of puppetry as part of its story-telling process."

Global Village has provided special workshops for its employees in order to raise the bar of the service in the park and achieve the highest standards for its guests which was prominent through providing happiness centres across the park to attend the guests questions and suggestions which helped keeping a close eye on the happiness index throughout the season.

This season also saw Global Village take some of its cultural shows across 20 schools to showcase different cultures of countries hosted in Global Village engaging with more than 10000 students. As part of its community outreach initiative to promote student creativity and artistic talents Global Village also launched the Project Dirham campaign which encouraged students across the UAE to paint and embellish metal plates engraved with one of the four national symbols inspired by the UAE Dirham coin.

This initiative was very well received with 1500 artworks that were received from across 100 schools and 15000 participating students. The finished plates were judged by a local artist and the top three students won Dh 50000 Dh 30000 and Dh 20000 respectively for their schools. All those plates have been gathered in Global Village to be part of the iconic structure of Dubai brand logo.

One of the key highlights of Global Village was its first ever 'Kids Fest' a special festival created exclusively for children. This 22 day festival brought together children of all nationalities as they enjoyed meeting the Smurfs face painting jumping on the Globo bouncy castle watching the 'Globo' shows as well as the stunning acrobatics show 'Circus Circus!'. The Global Show Academy was another hit with the little ones as it gave them an opportunity to practice special dance moves at the Roman Amphitheatre and exhibit their talent and skills.

Global Village also saw large numbers visit its destination on special public holidays such as the UAE's 44th National Day celebrations spreading over five days.

Global Village launched its mobile app last season to enable guests to enjoy multiple services with as much ease as possible. The app included the car locator at its 18000 car parking spots location of all its facilities including pavilions special attractions main stage rest rooms ATMs and much more.

Moving ahead with the smart initiatives and active social media engagement Global Village has also gained over 111000 new followers to its current 300000 fan base across its social media platforms.