(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Stuck in traffic going to Global Village? It will not be a problem soon enough. Global Village has pledged to add more buses in cooperation with the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) to solve large queues on parking spaces.
Speaking during a media roundtable on the attraction's latest update, CEO of Global Village Ahmad Hussain Bin Eissa, said among 11 touching points the team is measuring, queues on parking spaces and the amusement park showed to pose challenges.
"Although we developed parking infrastructures from last season, it still wasn't up to our expectations due to the huge rush of visitors, which was higher than last year. We are aware that jammed parking is impacting visitors' experience," said Bin Eissa.
He added that more intercity buses that operate to the main bus stations in Dubai will be provided to allow commuters to take the two bus routes 103 or 104 to Global Village. He noted another redevelopment process of parking spaces will take place to ease the vehicles rush.
Bin Eissa also noted the long queues lined up for rides, and said work is being done with an Australian consultancy company to add 15 more rides over the next season. The venue's amusement park currently features 30 rides with updated safety measures.
"This year, we added only two new rides but we will be opening a new concept for fun fair rides to meet our audience's expectations," said Bin Eissa.
So far, the Global Village has reported 2.3 million visitors from its opening in Nov.1 until Dec.31, which is a 5 per cent increase compared to 2.2 million visitors during the same period last year. The Average duration in the venue has increased by 20 per cent as compared to last year.
Bin Eissa said the village is expected to close at 5.5 million visitors, compared to 5.3 million last year.
To enhance accessibility and shorten entrance queues witnessed in previous years, Global Village this year has increased number of ticket sales points. A new gate with extra number of ticket selling points was launched, along with family packages sold in fuel stations and retail outlets.
Bin Eissa said the results were "above our expectations," as he reported good consumer experience. More than 250,000 tickets were sold through smart solutions.
He noted that this year's Happiness Index from Nov.1 to Dec. 31 scored nine out of 10, compared to 8.8 last year. "For us, the happiness levels are what matters. There's no point of having large numbers with low satisfaction levels," he said.
The 21st season of Global Village opened on Nov.1 with the theme of "New World Everyday", representing over 75 countries across 30 pavilions, including the new Algeria pavilion, the Far East pavilion which represent (the Philippines, South Korea, Japan and Indonesia), as well as the East Europe pavilion which has Serbia, Romania, and Ukraine as participants. Also, the Jordan pavilion returned from the 19th season.
New Cultural Square and Global Village Boulevard infrastructure enhancements took place and new Stunt Arena were also added.
Visitors are promised a lineup of scheduled events ranging from concerts by international stars, to cultural dance shows and international award-winning shows by over 50 internationally recruited performers until April 8.
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Global Village in numbers
- The Overall Guest Experience and Satisfaction at Global village scored of nine out 10 on the Happiness Index.
- Average Duration visit increased by 20 percent compared to last year.
- More than 250,000 tickets were sold through smart solutions
- A total of 575,000 used GV free shuttle services in the parking
- 600,000 of Karak tea cups were consumed by guests
- 2.3 million visited global village since its opening until Dec. 31.
- 5.5 million is the expected number of visitors this year
Sherouk Zakaria
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