We often repeat this banal phrase, meaning a breakthrough in information technology that enables us daily to communicate through video calls, various instant messengers and social networking with those friends and relatives who live not only in different countries, but also on other continents. PEACE AND REALLY BECOMING LESS AND LESS, EVEN THE BOUNDARIES ARE EASILY WASHING OUT - AND LINGUISTIC, AND SOME STATES ... HOWEVER, MUCH REMEMBERS OF EXCELLENT EVERYTHING. NAME TO HIM - GLOBAL VILLAGE (OR "WORLD VILLAGE"). TELL AND REMIND ABOUT IT WE ASKED THE MAIN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE "VILLAGE" SAID ALI BEN REDU.
Good evening, Said. Since its first appearance in 1997, the World Village project has been continuously improved. Please tell us what new things have you prepared for the guests of the village in the winter season 2010-2011?
Usually, one of the unique aspects of the World Village, as you rightly noted, is the annual introduction of something new and special in its outline, appearance and program of work. This is not about a single element. The biggest and most important innovation of this year, I consider the updated and original thematic appearance of the exhibition halls of each country. It is a great art to create an image on the facade of your pavilion that clearly displays the culture, history and traditions of your native country. For example, the Turkish pavilion this year looks like an exact copy of the palace of Sultan Abdul Hamid, one of the last rulers of the Ottoman Empire. The UAE pavilion uses the same concept that existed during the construction of traditional houses and palaces of sheikhs, with the famous bardzhil wind towers. It is unlikely that it can be confused with any other country, because such houses with towers have been preserved in the old districts of cities to this day. There are countries that have decided to add to their pavilions copies of new modern buildings that have already become their landmarks.
Such innovations are, for example, in the pavilions of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. So, can we expect a copy of the “Khalifa Tower” to appear in the UAE pavilion next year?
Why not. We will probably do that. It’s wonderful to give people a small piece of their country in a foreign land. We will be glad to see the appearance of a replica of the Kremlin or St. Basil’s Cathedral in Global Village. After all, imagine how pleasant it will be for a Russian tourist who finds himself in the World Village to see a pavilion with a picture of a fragment of Red Square? He will feel different. He will understand that he is a welcome guest in our "village".
How many countries and pavilions do you have this season?
Today, more than 45 countries are represented in the Global Village under the roofs of 28 pavilions.
Why is there such a discrepancy in numbers?
I’ll explain now. For example, it is difficult for African countries to build and maintain separate thematic pavilions. Therefore, we built two large African pavilions for them, in which the crafts of more than 15 African countries are exhibited. On the other hand, all states of India present their crafts, culture and traditions in one huge pavilion of their country. He is one of the largest in the current "World Village", along with Iran.
Are there new exhibitors in the Global Village?
Yes of course. Many of them had never been to the UAE before, but generally to the Persian Gulf region. For example, cafes and small restaurants appeared in the same Turkish pavilion, serving traditional sweets or Turkish donner kebabs. This year we opened the Islamic Pavilion for the first time, with the aim of showing and telling foreigners what Islam is, and demonstrating the cultural traditions and historical heritage of Islamic states. You can buy national women's and children's clothes, books and CDs, specialized editions of the Koran and much, much more. In addition, on the territory of the World Village there are more than 115 stalls where you can buy various souvenirs, snacks, decorations, clothes and so on. Moreover, such a kiosk can be rented by anyone. For example, we have a kiosk of a local family in which women come up with original jewelry for national clothes - sheil and abay. We also welcome this.
And, of course, nothing brings nations closer together like a joint meal. In our restaurant courtyard there are more than 25 restaurants with Pakistani, Indian, Lebanese, Turkish, Iranian, Egyptian, Moroccan and other cuisines, as well as fast food snacks, no less popular among the guests of the "village". Speaking of nutrition. With such a massive crowd of people and the presence of a large number of catering outlets, you probably need to apply unprecedented sanitary control measures? We at Global Village work closely with all government agencies in the UAE. Any food that enters the territory of the "village" both from abroad and from local producers is imported through special gates, where inspectors of the Food Control Department of the Dubai municipality carefully check everything. Moreover, every day our inspectors take food samples at one or more restaurants and send them for inspection to the Dubai laboratory. And so - every day. Therefore, any food that is prepared, sold, or packaged at Global Village is under full and vigilant control. And not one of the restaurant employees can start working there without a special medical card, which is issued after passing a medical examination. This is strictly monitored by the Dubai police.
In general, everything that happens in the Global Village is fully consistent with the laws and regulations in force in the country. Everyone needs special permissions - to arrange pavilions from the Land Department, to restaurants - from the food inspection, and even carousels, swings and other attractions begin to work only after a thorough check of the specialized German company TUV, as well as engineers from the Dubai municipality, which issue their verdict on safety compliance. The work of all the rides is monitored by a group of mechanics and employees of the Department of Civil Defense. In this sense, we are very strict, since we are talking about the life and health of people.
How many people visit the World Village daily?
On average, about 40 thousand people visit Global Village every day. The area of the "World Village" along with parking today is more than 10 million square feet, 5 million square meters. ft. 16,500 parking spaces are available. In addition, we have a specialized area for buses: tourist, school and public, as well as separate parking for VIP guests and paid parking spaces, which cost 40 dirhams for a whole day of visiting, for those who are easier to pay than circling in search of places. For the convenience of visitors, there are 4 main entrances in the Global Village area, as well as one gate for employees and the second for food and drink suppliers.
How many people work in your team so that the World Village functions smoothly for all four months?
Only 40 people directly obey me. But if we take everyone who works in the World Village during the season, this figure will exceed 7.5 thousand people - these are sellers in the pavilions, restaurant employees, security, and municipal workers. More than 2 thousand people are involved in the work of the "World Village" indirectly: these are drivers, movers, janitors, gardeners and so on. In a word, about 10 thousand people work at Global Village in a season.
By the way, you annually increase the working hours of the World Village. What is the reason for this?
First, we adapt the village’s working hours to the time of school holidays in different countries of the GCC, in order to enable all children to visit us. In countries neighboring with the UAE, vacations begin at different times. In Saudi Arabia - in one period, usually during the Hajj, in Qatar - in another, in Oman - in the third, in Bahrain - in the fourth. But we want all our neighbors to be able to have a good, interesting and profitable time with our families and children. In addition, knowing that Americans, Europeans, citizens of the countries of the Far East come to the "village", we try to extend their joy of the holidays during Christmas and New Year, we do not forget about the native emirates, organizing lush festivities with fireworks and processions in honor of UAE National Day. And finally, the culmination of the active season of the World Village is the annual Dubai Trade Festival, which this winter will be held from January 20 to February 20, 2011.
Let's talk about the entertainment program at Global Village. Where do artists, acrobats, jugglers come from?
We have direct contacts with more than 200 companies in the world that offer us a wide variety of shows and carnivals, and each year we consider more than 1000 of the best entertainment shows and programs, from which we choose only what is ideal for the audience of our region. During the four months of the "village", we must change the main show every month. For example, this year in November, our main performance was the performances of equilibrists riding a motorcycle on a tightrope. In December, this is a basketball acrobatic show. In January and February, new performances and surprises await the audience, plus all kinds of shows that will be held as part of the annual Dubai Trade Festival. All the performances that we bring to Global Village are shown in the region for the first time. Artists come to us from America, Europe and even Japan. In addition, our main stage hosts numerous cultural shows, for example, from India (from Bollywood), Tokyo, the Philippines, Indonesia and other cities and countries.
Plus - permanent folklore performances are held in thematic pavilions of all countries, and on the territory of the "village" you can meet street artists painting special faces of children, street artists - jugglers, acrobats, magicians, entertaining the audience. And all these representations I have listed are absolutely free for visitors who pay only the cost of an admission ticket to Global Village. In total, during 111 days of work, we show our main shows and shows almost 5,000 times. Therefore, last year we received the award "For the organization of the best performances in the Middle East region."
What is being done to attract more visitors to the "village"?
We began to work actively on social networks, opened our own Facebook page, where we post regular announcements of new events so that people who are planning to fly to Dubai during the Global Village season will definitely visit it. In addition, we released a special application for iPhone users, downloading which the latter can be aware of what is happening in the "World Village" online.
Tell me, please, are the plans for the construction of the permanent theme park Global Village amusement still valid?
Yes. Today we have a temporary project that works during the four autumn and winter months of the year. However, the area of the land belonging to the “World Village” provides for the construction of air-conditioned exhibition pavilions on each of the participating countries in order to turn the “village” into a permanent open-air ethnographic exhibition-fair. But this is in the future. While we can not conduct the construction of new pavilions, as in the season the "village" is open to visitors. This is a project of the future, which sooner or later will be realized by us.
Tell me, anywhere else in the world there are projects like Global Village in Dubai?
They tried to copy our idea in several countries. I heard about India, Jordan, Egypt. But all these attempts failed. Similar fairs were held in the countries I have mentioned once and that’s all. For the successful implementation of such large-scale projects, many components are required.
After all, what is our "World Village"?
This is a festival of international cuisine, and open-air carnivals, and a folk festival, and a folk crafts fair, and much more in one project. Many private and state companies, investors from different countries are involved in the work of our village. In other countries, without such an organization and investment, such projects tend to fail. In our "village" it is even impossible to lose a child, because any of our employees will immediately take the baby to the Lost Children room, and it will be enough for parents to contact any of the many help centers where they will be told the location of this room.
Tell me, please, is the Global Village project in Dubai owned by the state or private investors?
Global Village Park is a private project that works with the strong support of the state, where it applies to visas, medical insurance and other documents for employees and exhibitors.
Said, allow me to thank you for an interesting conversation, as well as for the daily work of your entire team and wish you success in the further development of such an interesting project as Global Village in Dubai.
