Why Dubai is fast becoming a tourists' haven

Gulf News

Why Dubai is fast becoming a tourists' haven. With numerous attractions and infrastructure projects underway, the emirate is on track to become the world's most visited city. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

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00:00Dubai aims to become the world's most visited city, attracting 20 million tourists by 2020.

00:15In order to achieve this goal, the Emirate has lined up major tourism projects which

00:19are set to be completed in the next few years.

00:22To give you a glimpse on the projects that are set to be opened soon, Gulf News visited

00:27the Dubai Tourism Pavilion during the recent Arabian Travel Market held at the Dubai International

00:32Convention and Exhibition Center.

00:35ATM is a yearly travel trade event in the Middle East.

00:38The show focused on Dubai's tourism vision for 2020, which the government announced last

00:44year.

00:45Under the vision, the Emirate expects to double visitor numbers from 10 million in 2012 to

00:5120 million by 2020.

00:53Dubai's first mega-themed entertainment destination, IMG Worlds of Adventure, is set to mark the

00:59opening of a new chapter in the UA's leisure industry.

01:02Once opened, the 1.5 million square feet project developed by the Ilyas and Mustafa Ghaledari

01:08Group will be the world's largest temperature-controlled indoor-themed entertainment destination, with

01:14a capacity to welcome in excess of 20,000 visitors a day.

01:18We will be a vast 1.5 million square feet, all indoors with the exception of one of our

01:23mega-launched coasters, which is the Velociraptor launch coaster, located in our Lost Valley

01:27Dinosaur Adventure Zone.

01:29Lost Valley Dinosaur Adventure Zone is trademarked to us.

01:32It immerses you into the prehistoric experience to live within a lost world with dinosaurs,

01:38with thrill rides, entertainment.

01:40This destination is something for everyone.

01:42Being that we live in Dubai in this hot climate and that we're fully indoors, you can enjoy

01:46it year-round.

01:47Another tourist attraction that is set to open soon is Dubai's first Butterfly Park.

01:52The Butterfly Park will house nearly 35,000 butterflies of all breeds and fancy colors.

01:58Built at the cost of 35 million dirhams in Miracle Garden, Dubai Land, the park has nine

02:03domes, spread across an area of 50,000 square feet.

02:07While Magic Alphatame Leisure & Entertainment is on an expansion binge and is planning to

02:11introduce a new brand this year in Dubai, MAF Leisure & Entertainment is a unit of MAF

02:16Ventures, part of the Dubai-based conglomerate MAF Holding.

02:20Some of its brands include Magic Planet, a family entertainment center, Ski Dubai, an

02:26indoor ski resort located at Mall of the Emirates, which attracted over one million visitors

02:31last year.

02:32iFly, an indoor skydiving tunnel and sky trail, a multifaceted obstacle course that is suspended

02:38along the ceiling of the Merdif City Center Mall.

02:41Based on our founder's vision, Mr. Magic Alphatame, we are looking to create great

02:46moments for everyone, every day.

02:49And as per the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in order to

02:54have a great Expo 2020 and to double the visitors in Dubai to reach 20 million.

03:01So as being part of Dubai and being part of the active companies within the leisure and

03:08entertainment, so we always have lots of ideas and lots of projects and we're always

03:12looking for a new concept on how to enhance the Dubai visitors experience.

03:19With all the major tourism developments in the Emirates, next year's edition of ATM is

03:24expected to have a bigger exhibition space for travel-related technology, cruise and

03:29medical tourism.

03:30Ayrish Idenbalieza for Gulf News.

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