Summer in Abu Dhabi Expands As Emirate Steps Up Targeting of GCC Market

‘Summer in Abu Dhabi’ – the six-week family-centric festival now in its third year – has been significantly expanded by its organiser Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) with an awesome entertainment line-up taking in eight venues across the UAE capital and Al Ain – the first time the festival has reached out to the emirate’s Eastern Region heritage heartland.

Headlining the festival, which runs from 24th June to August 5th 2010, will be three major international acts including, direct from the USA, New York’s award-winning Big Apple Circus, one of the world’s largest, which will be making its first appearance in the Middle East. The circus was the opening act of Britney Spears’ highly successful ‘The Circus Starring Britney Spears’ world tour.

The circus, with a stellar cast of international stars from Europe and Russia, has been billed as “nothing short of spectacular” by New York’s acclaimed social website WhomYouKnow.com.
“This is family entertainment at its very finest,” said Faisal Al Sheikh, Events Manager, ADTA. “It sets the tone of an entertainment and edutainment extravaganza which is larger than ever with compelling 1-for-1 visitor deals. Summer in Abu Dhabi this year will be the biggest summer event to hit Abu Dhabi yet and is a strong pitch to families within the GCC to come and spend time in the emirate where they’ll be guaranteed fantastic value and entertainment.”
The GCC is a primary source market for Abu Dhabi with the first quarter of this year seeing some 26,685 GCC nationals staying in hotels throughout the emirate – a 29 percent rise on the same period last year. This made the GCC the second biggest overseas market for Abu Dhabi after the UK.

“The number of Kuwaiti guests who stayed in Abu Dhabi hotels during the first quarter of this year numbered 3,392, which is a whopping 44% up on figures for Q1 of 2009 – the largest percentage increase of any GCC state,” explained Al Sheikh.
“The proximity of Kuwait to the UAE and the excellent air links between the two countries make the state a prime market on our doorstep.”

Award-winning Etihad, the national airline of the UAE, flies twice daily from Kuwait International to Abu Dhabi International. Kuwait Airways operates two flights a week on the route with Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways running a four-times-a-week service between Kuwait and the UAE capital.

The Big Apple Circus will perform a one hour, 20 minute show at the recently-launched Abu Dhabi Hall at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from July 23rd – August 3rd. The hall is the Gulf’s largest indoor entertainment venue with retractable seats and a capacity of 6,000. Tickets are available from Summer in Abu Dhabi participating shopping malls and from ADNEC.

Negotiations for a second international headline act are currently being finalised, according to Al Sheikh, while Abu Dhabi Hall will also host the legendary Irish dancing theatrical ‘Lord of the Dance, the world’s highest grossing dance show.
‘Lord of the Dance,’ the brainchild of American-Irish dance sensation Michael Flately, has smashed box office records and performed sold-out shows to over 100 million people at theatres, arenas and stadiums in 67 countries. It will run for four nights – July 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th.
“This is the theatre-cum-art spectacular which catapulted Irish dancing into the global spotlight,” explained Al Sheikh. “It features more than 40 dancers who will deliver an eloquent and stunning interpretation of Ireland’s most famous dance.
“The production is a phenomenal spectacle that speaks to all, crossing boundaries of age, gender and cultural diversity. From the moment the lights go down, audiences will be spellbound by a masterfully orchestrated combination of precision dancing, state-of-the-art lighting and pyrotechnics.”

‘Lord of the Dance’ tickets are priced at around KWD 23, 31, 47, 63 and are available at www.boxoffice.com, www.timeouttickets.com, www.ticketingboxoffice.com and Virgin Megastores in the UAE.
In addition to the headline shows, ADNEC will also host a wealth of edutainment zones with activities for every age group.

The adventurous can head to Laser Zone where players will line up against each other in a game of frantic cat-and-mouse style tag in a safe, yet challenging specially-designed arena.
‘Bee Amazed’ Zone, inspired by the popular Japanese Game Show ‘Takeshi’s Castle’, will test strategic thinking and psycho-motor skills as would-be explorers try to navigate their way out of a challenging maze.

For kids, there’s the Hello Music Zone – a multi-dimensional edutainment experience which is a unique mix of movie and live show. Its characters travel between the animated screen and live stage performances in a presentation of comedy, magic, music and mayhem.

In ‘Dance-tricity’ there’s a huge floor that captures a dancer’s energy and converts it to electricity, which is used to power great music and wild lighting. Dancers can select from a range of music styles to see what groove results in the most juice – or they can dock their own iPods and DJ the space for themselves and friends.

At Play Motion visitors will step into a world transformed into a magical playground of games and art using the latest entertainment technology. Sensors will capture elements of body movements and reflect them as virtual shadows which will interact with multimedia projections in real-time, drawing players into the virtual environment.

And for budding scientists, there’s the Mad Scientist Laboratory, where professors will conduct real-life experiments with fun and unpredictable results, bringing to life the wonder of science.

This year, Summer in Abu Dhabi will spill out from its traditional ADNEC home to six shopping centres – Abu Dhabi Mall, Marina Mall and Al Wahda Mall in Abu Dhabi, as well as Al Jimi Mall, Al Ain Mall and Bawadi Mall in Al Ain – where there’ll be exciting entertainment programmes. These include indigenous cultural performances, multi-dimensional entertainment experiences, ‘live’ cooking classes, competitions and workshops. Shops will back up the festivities with special offers and promotions.
Play Zone’s mall activities include Car Madness, where children will step into a pretend auto-shop equipped with all the tools needed to perform make-believe repairs to kid-size cars.

In Tasty Zone, food will be transformed into exclusive art work. In the Junior Cooking School, budding chefs will design their own cupcakes under the careful supervision of top chefs, while masterchefs will stage live cooking demonstrations.
At the Cultural Display mall visitors will be entertained with stunning performances by traditional arts and dance troupes from 10 different countries – Mongolia, New Zealand, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Botswana, Mexico, the UAE, China, Malaysia and India.
Abu Dhabi Municipality is also joining in the campaign planning a host of festivities in its popular Khalifa Park family destination.

ADTA has also galvanised its expanding stakeholder base to provide 1-for-1 visitor deals during the festival. The umbrella one-for-one campaign will see GCC travellers get free air seats for children, complimentary room nights, meal deals, discounted attractions and free tours.

A host of ‘one-for-one’ deals will be available with Etihad offering one child’s seat (under 16 years) free for every adult ticket bought, across any class, from Kuwait. ‘One-for-one’ hotel and restaurant deals will also go on offer at over 30 four and five star hotels in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. The same one-for-one offering will be rendered by attractions across Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
To add even greater value to the ‘Summer in Abu Dhabi’ experience, ADTA will lay on complimentary cultural tours for visitors, daily tours from Abu Dhabi city to Al Ain and free admissions to selected attractions.

For more details: www.summerinabudhabi.com

“Abu Dhabi’s tourism proposition has grown hugely since this time last year with new attractions, new operators, new hotels and resorts which make it a great family leisure destination,” explained Ati Al Dhaheri, Domestic Promotions Section Head. “Given the added attractions of Summer in Abu Dhabi, we hope to attract more visitors from Kuwait and have them stay longer and immerse themselves in Abu Dhabi’s varied experiences.”

An ADTA delegation, which included a mission of the destination’s stakeholders including hotels, tour operators, meetings venue providers and airlines, was in Kuwait to present the festival to the Kuwaiti media and travel trade during a five-country GCC road show aimed at strengthening trade ties and boosting awareness of Summer in Abu Dhabi.