Cartoon friends add fun to Modhesh

Wednesday, Jun 22, 2011

Gulf News

Dubai: While Modhesh continues to add yellow sparkle to the Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), which is scheduled to start today, the focus this year for children will be on cartoon characters.

Mirdif City Centre will play host to US media franchise Ben 10, while Dubai Mall will also be taking part in the cartoon fun with a LazyTown cartoon show.

The First Group Theatre at Madinat Jumeirah will continue the theme hosting Disneys Camp Rock, a musical performance including all the Disney hit singles.

Dubai Marina Mall will have the Mr Men show featuring all the characters from the Mr Men and Little Miss books. Other shows include Bob the Builder show in Mall of the Emirates, Powerpuff Girls in Al Ghurair Centre, Thomas the Tank show at Mirdif City Centre, Chowder at Dubai Festival City.

The early start of this years Ramadan works well with retailers who can take advantage of the school traffic.

Summer vacation

Ramadan arriving earlier will be the key difference this year compared to last year. In a way, this is good as it coincides with the summer vacation period which is the most challenging period for shopping, Neelesh Bhatnager, director of Oasis Centre, told Gulf News.

According to Bhatnager, this year they are expecting an increase of 20 per cent compared to last year.

Ramadans early start also means that this years event is the shortest it has been in the history of DSS.

The GCC is a key target market for DSS so the festival ideally starts when school holidays begin across the region. This is an important factor for families that decide to go on a holiday during summer. Additionally, Ramadan is scheduled to begin in August, so obviously we cannot extend DSS beyond July, said Laila Suhail, chief executive of Depe, organisers of DSS.

Raffles continue to remain a favourite feature. Dubai Shopping Malls Group will be holding the BMW Raffle while Oasis Centres weekly raffle will offer prizes worth up to Dh20,000. Mercatos raffle will include holidays and a Land Rover LR4.

For the first time, Dubai Mall will be hosting EPIC exhibition. An event for the Eco-wise, Progressive, Intelligent Consumer.

The sustainable consumer event will cover fashion and accessories, food and beverage, leisure and travel, home and garden, health and beauty and run throughout the event.

The target of the event is visitors from the GCC as well as China and Russia and neighbouring Iran, India and Pakistan. According to Gassan Aridi, chairman of Alpha Tours, the emirate is expecting a 20 per cent increase in tourist footfall as tourists switch from neighbouring countries experiencing political upheaval.

Tour operators will also be playing a bit role in stimulating the tourist footfall by offering festival discounts and visa packages.

The malls participating this year include Al Bustan Centre, Al Ghurair City, Al Manal Centre, Al Mulla Plaza, Arabian Centre, BurJuman Centre, Century Mall, Hamarain Centre, Ibn Battuta Mall, Lamcy Plaza, Mazaya Centre, Oasis Centre, Palm Strip and Reef Mall.

Tour operators prepare special packages during the summer fiesta to attract more families, said Suhail in a previous Gulf News interview.

By Aya Lowe, Staff Reporter