The 48,000 Square Meters Souq at Al Dhafra Festival Opened This Year With 100 New Shops

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The 48,000 Square Meters Souq at Al Dhafra Festival Opened This Year With 100 New Shops

Numerous Emirati females arrive every morning at Al Dhafra Festival with bags of products that top up the products of their shops in the Festival's souk. Trade and economic opportunities, specifically for the people of Abu Dhabi emirate's Western Region, have actually been the primary emphasis of this yearly event, along with Emirati heritage preservation, ever since it began 10 years ago.

Over this previous years, Al Dhafra Festival's souk has been growing in both dimension and appeal. For the very first time in 2015, an interior market was integrated in the heart of the festival, best next to the outdoors typical souk, the hospitality majlis, the children's play ground and the camel appeal competitors field.

Abdullah Butti Al Qubaisi, Director of the Communications Division of Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Board - Abu Dhabi, pointed out that the souk is a huge part of the Festival, thus it has actually gotten some extra attention this year. "Though Al Dhafra Festival we have produced a platform for the UAE residents to reveal their satisfaction for our traditions and continue preserving the heritage of the UAE by passing it to their children. As a platform, the Festival has been growing, it has been focusing on the components of our heritage, not simply with camels, saluki, falcons, Arabian horses or days competitors, however likewise through the conventional market," he said.

"We have finished the stage 2 of Al Dhafra souk, so we have 100 shops currently constructed inside the souk; next, we will certainly start servicing phase 3, which is the major stand of the festival and some administration and operation offices. These will certainly prepare before the festival following year".

"The souk is not only bigger this year, however a lot more diverse too, as it is part of our method to draw in more site visitors. In the previous years, the food, as an example, was offered mostly by Emirati women, however we have discovered that site visitors, also from the Western Region, desire more selection of food. To earn certain we cater for everybody's taste, we have added several food trucks within the souk area," Al Qubaisi additionally claimed.

The new souk stores were built as a result of the teamwork between the Committee and the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Procedures (ADCO), now the total market area reaching 48,000 square meters. Both individuals and visitors have noticed enhancements in the market's "appearances". A few of the Emirati ladies in the souk have actually been coming below for a number of years and they've always discovered Al Dhafra Festival among the best chances in the Western Region to offer their products - or inventions. This weekend break alone, a number of thousands people from throughout the UAE and abroad pertained to see the Festival - and the souk. Much of them are looking for details, traditional products that they could not easily discover in the big cities or keepsakes to repossess to their residence countries.

"I've been looking throughout Abu Dhabi for a bisht, the Arab winter season coat, for my son, however I could not locate one at a reasonable rate. We go camping a whole lot in the desert throughout winter months, and the bisht is optimal to keep cozy. Currently I'm happy to discover one right here, at the festival. It will certainly make an excellent Christmas present for my son," said Mark Leason," an Abu Dhabi resident from the UK.

"This is the second time we are checking out Al Dhafra Festival - we were below 2 years ago - and I should say it looks much better now that whatever is extra portable and within walking range from each other. We particularly took pleasure in the falcon charm show today and, of course, it's constantly nice to see the camels, specifically the black ones, which we do not normally see in the UAE, and which look rather striking in their gold, sparkling harnesses," he included.

From residence mixed fragrances, playthings, dresses and honey to hand crafted hand leaves home things and woven woollen towels and jewelry, the souk is an opened up home window right into the seniority of Emirati society and practices.

The majority of the thousands of Emirati ladies at the marketplace help months to create these conventional Sadu (the art of weaving cotton and wool), Telli (gold or silver needlework) or Khous (weaving hand fronds). They normally make in between AED 15,000 and AED 30,000 at Al Dhafra Festival. As they all insurance claim, however, it is not almost the money. They come right here, together with buddies and family members, to re-live life as it utilized to be in their youth years.Al Dhafra Festival will certainly continue in Madinat Zayed, the Western Region of Abu Dhabi emirate, up until December 29th.