H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan gets Dubai Festival City briefing at ATM

Sheikh Abdullah showed great interest as Niall McLoughlin, Corporate Communications Manager for Dubai Festival City described the unique propositions being developed on 1600 acres of Dubai Creek waterfront land. Sheikh Abdullah commented that Dubai Festival City was an exciting addition to Dubai and wished the project developers well.

The signature 'city-within-a-city' destination is being showcased on a 50 square metre stand at Arabian Travel Market, the region's premier travel and tourism show, taking place at the Airport Expo Dubai.

The diverse shopping, leisure and sports offerings of Dubai Festival City are a prime focus of its Arabian Travel Market stand.

'Dubai is the shopping hub of the Arabian Gulf and the region's leading leisure destination,' said Lee Tabler, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Festival City LLC. 'The emirate is targeting tourist arrivals of 15 million by 2010 and we see these visitors as a key target for us. Tourists will converge on Dubai Festival City as it will be a centreplace destination, much as Covent Garden is to London, or St. Mark's Square is to Venice.

'Tourism will have the most dramatic short-term impact on Dubai Festival City. Tourists and consumers want unique experiences and new things to consider, explore and enjoy. They are looking for the next horizon and how they can add more to their leisure experience. Dubai Festival City will offer this.'

Arabian Travel Market is the first international travel and tourism event at which Dubai Festival City has participated. 'Our aim at ATM is to introduce the Dubai Festival City project onto the local, regional and international travel and tourism stage, to generate new contacts and partners,' said Tabler.