Dubai Festival City to offer family entertainment experience

And, in an address to the Middle East's Council of Shopping Centres' annual convention being held in Dubai, Judy Neil said the planned retail/entertainment mix was part of a strategy to ensure Dubai Festival City would be a shopping and leisure destination rolled into one.

"The all-in-one mix of the development will be unrivalled in this region," said Neil. "At Dubai Festival City we will aim to lift the shopping experience of the Middle East to whole new heights.

"And alongside this great shopping offering will be entertainment on a scale and scope not yet seen in one place in the region. We are working on ensuring that residents and tourists will want to come back to sample our entertainment again and again."

Developing the project as a leisure destination will, according to Neil, give the centre of Dubai its own "sense of place."

"Even great entertainment and fabulous shopping aren't enough to create a destination - what is needed is that sense of place - the experience that's delivered in centreplace destinations all over the world, from St. Marks Square in Venice, to Covent Garden in London. Destinations are different because they have attitude," she told delegates.

Apart from UAE residents, families from throughout the Middle East will be high on Dubai Festival City's target list, said Neil.

"This is where the experience of post September 11th is useful," said Neil.

"The whole region has seen a shift in tourist patterns. Middle Easterners are staying in the region. They are family tourists, sometimes quite sizeable groups.

"We believe that these families, rediscovering, perhaps in some cases discovering for the first time, their own region, will be a major part of future leisure and business tourism. These tourists will be important and we know they will not travel long distances to get what they can get at home."

Neil said Dubai Festival City, which will cover 1,600 acres of prime waterfront land next to the Creek, would be unique.

"That point of uniqueness is not an optional extra," she said. "It is essential if a destination is going to retain its visitors for longer."

Malls which can only offer a shopping experience will not compete with Dubai Festival City, according to Neil.

"A destination provides for a number of offerings to feed into each other. People will come to Dubai Festival City to play golf, to eat in the hotels and restaurants, visit the entertainment zone -they'll also shop in our retail parks.

"Shoppers at Dubai Festival City may also choose to relax in the hotels, practice their swing on the golf range or meet friends in a waterfront coffee shop and watch the world go by.

"To succeed, a destination must create a cauldron of excitement and drama. At Dubai Festival City we will achieve this with a unique mix of entertainment offerings."