Dubai’s IMG Worlds of Adventure is pulling out all the stops to revive customer traffic when it opens this weekend for the first time in nearly four months.

The world’s largest indoor theme park announced on Tuesday that it will welcome visitors again from July 10 onwards with a limited-time entry-price offer of 20 dirhams per ticket for UAE residents.

The park operator assured that it will strictly adhere to the safety protocols prescribed by authorities to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Dubai is attempting to revive its tourism industry, which has been among the worst hit by the dramatic fall in visitor numbers due to the coronavirus pandemic. The emirate lifted on Tuesday its travel ban on incoming tourist traffic and welcomed the first batch of visitors after the lockdown.

The UAE had earlier implemented one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to control the spread of coronavirus. In March, it stopped all international flights and closed all public venues, including theme parks, museums and shopping malls.

The lockdown caused a lot of businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry to incur huge revenue losses, forcing many of them to trim their payrolls and staff salaries.

With the reopening, there is a sense of renewed optimism especially within the tourism sector that customer traffic will return and kick-start the economy.

According to Helal Al Marri, director-general of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), consumer sentiments have changed since the lockdown and that some people now want to travel as restrictions have eased.

“If we rewind six to eight weeks, everybody was in lockdown, everybody was in a much pessimistic situation. Today, countries are opening up, albeit slowly. But I do expect a lot of countries to open up over the course of the summer. As we continue into the fall and winter, travel will normalize, albeit within this COVID-19 situation,” Al Marri told CNN in an interview.

“This [outbreak] is an event. There’s not a systemic issue with travel overall. People still really want to go on holiday. We can see that from the searches online,” he added.

(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)

Cleofe.maceda@refinitiv.com

#UAE #Dubai #IMG Worlds of Adventure #Entertainment

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Read our full disclaimer policy here.

© ZAWYA 2020