Tourists Let Their Hair Down At Al Seef Street

There’s never a dull moment at Al Seef Street, one of the focal points in the on-going Dubai Shopping Festival celebrations. Tourists from all over the world mingle with residents at this creekside venue, which is never empty, what with a myriad of amazing entertainment options and captivating carnival shows.

Al Seef Street is especially popular with tourists, who come to the venue to experience a slice of Dubai’s street life, which offers a different perspective of a city that is perhaps most famous for its malls and shopping options. And they never go back disappointed. With a variety of kiosks offering cuisine from various cultures around the world, floating restaurants on the creek, exhibitions such as the World of Souvenirs and special zones for children’s entertainment, tourists are spoilt for choice.

Newly-wed German couple, the Dietzs, decided to take a small vacation to Dubai for DSF 2013 after they saw advertisements of the festival on the internet. After touring the city and enjoying themselves at several DSF events and venues, they felt the ads were not exaggerating when they showed how beautiful Dubai was and how well organized the DSF events were. They also enjoyed the great shopping bargains that came with the DSF and rued that their trip to the city was so short. Next time, they promised, they would spend a longer holiday in the city as they said the DSF had been able to impress upon them that Dubai would be welcoming and enjoyable any time of the year.

Australian graphic designer Gadi Malxini had come with his family to enjoy the DSF. He laughed as he said the trip was eight months in the planning. “We had decided to come eight months earlier but then my family heard of the DSF and we postponed our trip so that we could catch the festival. We were fine-tuning our tour plans all the while to be able to make the most of our time here. We have some friends and relations living here and when my kids got to know about the DSF from them, they insisted we wait for the festival. We had heard that Dubai changes a lot during this period and while I can’t comment on that because I don’t live here, we are certainly enjoying ourselves.

“My wife has not stopped shopping since we arrived four days ago and it’s been difficult to take the children away from the play zones. We have taken a lot of pictures of Dubai that we will be uploading on the internet for our friends and family back home to see. We would love to visit Dubai again.”

Three British tourists who were taking in the Al Seef Street tourist attractions said Dubai deserved to be declared the top tourist destination in the world during the DSF because it was packed with every kind of attraction to lure visitors. They said first impression of a place is important and their first impression of Dubai was “simply brilliant”. The trio had already visited Al Riqqa Street before coming to Al Seef Street and was now looking forward to the Bedouin Lifestyle Camp and the other attraction of the Festival Promenade at Dubai Festival City. They also said they had been impressed by the traditional souks and shops as well as the World of Souvenirs, not to mention the malls in the city.

One of them, who gave his name as Phillip, said: “Just the shopping experience in Dubai is amazing on its own, leave alone all the other activities. We enjoyed the Gold Souk the most. Tourists always look for classical and traditional products that reflect the country or the city they visit and there is plenty of that in Dubai. The pricing of the goods during the DSF is very attractive and reasonable as well.”

Allan Konstantin, another British citizen who works as a business development manager in a Dubai company, said that he was keeping himself up-to-date with the events happening on Al Seef Street and participating in most of them.

“I came to Al Seef Street with my wife and felt a bit lost amidst the huge number of activities since it was our first time here during the DSF. But then we went to the DSF Information Desk and the people there were very helpful and friendly. They provided us with all the information that we needed,” Konstantin said.

With so much to see and do during the festival, DSF 2013 is serving as a magnet for people all around the world to attract them to the celebration of “Dubai at its Best”.

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Jan 21, 2013

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