Half-a-million flock to Dubai parks, beaches

The six major parks and two public beaches in the emirate witnessed a record number of footfalls as per the statistics and estimates provided by the Parks and Horticulture Department of the civic body.

Director of the Department Ahmed AbdulKarim told Khaleej Times that 367,387 people visited the six main parks in Dubai from Thursday through Sunday. “This is much higher compared to the figures we have from last year. The main parks received 346,300 visitors last year.” Giving the breakup of the figures, he said Al Mamzar Beach Park which received nearly 100,000 visitors was the most favourite destination of Eid revelers. “Our records show that 99,858 people visited the Mamzar Beach Park. It has always been a favourite choice of residents and tourists because it is a beach park with a lot of facilities,” said AbdulKarim.

Premy Shasikumar, a school teacher who visited Al Mamzar Beach Park on Saturday with her colleagues and children said, there were thousands of families and huge groups of people. “We were a group of 12 and we spent almost the entire day there. Our children had a good time cycling around the park till lunch time. In the afternoon, we went to the beach side and had fun there,” she said.

Shiny Shajudheen, who works with a satellite company, said some of her colleagues went to Mamzar and Zabeel parks with their families to have barbecue parties. “I missed going with them as we had planned an Al Ain trip this time,” she said.

Mushrif Park stood second in the list with a total of 76,025 people visiting it in just four days. Jumeirah Beach Park received 69,081 visitors while the crowd in Zabeel Park, where the Dubai’s first Water Balloon Bash Day was held, numbered up to 66, 456. Safa Park, which also hosted the monthly flea market on Saturday, received 51, 619 visitors.

Additionally, nearly 65,000 people spent the Eid weekend in the emirate’s four pond parks located in Al Nahda (24,000 visitors), Al Ghusais (11,000), Al Barsha (22,000 visitors), and Al Quoz (7,000). In the case of the public beaches maintained by the municipality, the AbdulKarim estimated a footfall of nearly 135,000 in the Jumeirah Beach Park and 1, 20,000 people in the Al Mamzar Open Beach. “These are our random calculations as there is no system to count the vast number of people coming to the beaches,” he said.

Despite being thronged by families and bachelors, the public parks and beaches did not report any accidents or major untoward incidents, he pointed out.

The Director of the Public Health and Safety Department Redha Hassan Salman said the department had assigned special teams to work in shifts in the parks and play areas in the emirate. “Our team had inspected and was monitoring all the play areas, rides, barricades, organising the queues and emergency requirements. We were not called for any untoward incident,” he said.

sajila@khaleejtimes.com