The multicultural festival park will offer a bigger and more varied cultural experience with never-seen-before surprises planned for its upcoming season.

Highlights of Global Village’s 21st season 2016-2017:

• Infrastructure enhancements including the new Cultural Square and Global Village Boulevard.
• New Stunt Arena with Global Village’s first ever produced stunt show.
• The largest entertainment shows on a regional scale and award-winning theatrical cultural performances.
• Concerts every Friday by International music icons.
• Unique dining experience with new restaurants, cafes and street food kiosks.
• New pavilions including: The Far East, Algeria, Eastern Europe (Romania, Serbia and Ukraine), and the return of Jordan.

Dubai, UAE, October 26, 2016:  During Tuesday’s media launch event of Global Village, the region’s first multicultural festival park announced exciting new plans for its festive 21st season. Global Village will be ready to welcome its guests from the 1st of November 2016 until the 8th of April 2017, for over 159 days of fun and amazement. 

While announcing their plans for the 21st season, Global Village’s management announced that they are preparing to welcome their guests after two decades of success, and promised to continue to deliver the best entertainment experiences in the region through an exciting and unique schedule of first-time events on a regional scale. This season, Global Village promises to take its guests on a journey by discovering a new world every day. 

Ahmad Hussain bin Essa, CEO of Global Village, said: “Global Village is back for its 21st season and this year we are keen on providing our guests with an experience that allows them to discover a new world every day. This season will host more entertainment shows on an international scale that are sure to please our guests. With more participation from different countries by the inclusion of new pavilions such as  the Far East pavilion representing Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines, Global Village hopes to provide its guests with a more diverse cultural experience. Other new pavilions include Algeria, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine pavilions, along with the return of Jordan pavilion.” 

Bin Essa pointed out that Global Village is considered to be one of the main tourist attractions of Dubai and the region as a whole. Over two decades, Global Village has managed to position itself as a unique tourist destination, a shopping and entertainment outlet for visitors and travellers, characterized by cultural diversity. 

Entering its third decade, Global Village is undoubtedly the best park in terms of improvements and expanded operations, which has included the development of its facilities to enhance its guests’ experience. In addition to these improvements, Global Village has been preparing to welcome millions of local and international guests by offering additional services, facilities, and safety measures. These developments have taken place in response to suggestions given to Global Village by its guests throughout its previous seasons. 

Bin Essa continued: “We are looking forward to launching the 21st season and welcoming our guests. We have been preparing for this season since the closure of our last, to ensure we meet our guests’ expectations and provide them with all-new experiences once again.”

During the 20th season, Global Village was highly successful. It received the largest share of family visitors, along with a staggering number of tourist visitors, totaling to 5.3 million guests overall. The highlight of Global Village’s previous season was the major enhancements done on its infrastructure that have comforted more than 5.3 million guests that visited it and drawn smiles on their faces.

The 21st season of Global Village will offer additional enhancements and improvements, including the new Cultural Square, which was inspired by the history and culture of Arabia. The new Cultural Square will also feature a new Cultural Gate, which is meant to provide people with an amazing experience even before stepping into Global Village. Additionally, the Global Village Boulevard has been developed with new scenes of greenery to allow guests to enjoy leisurely strolls moving from the parking to the gates of Global Village. A new stunt arena has been built specifically for a never-seen-before show, which is expected to be one of the key highlights of this season.

Ahmad Hussain bin Essa, CEO of Global Village, explained that these developments are part of Global Village’s strategic development plan to keep up with the future vision of Dubai, which aims towards increasing the number of tourists visiting the city. Global Village will focus its offerings on family tourism, which is an essential aspect to Dubai tourism.

New Entertainment Shows
Global Village offers a wide range of unique shows and activities that are showcased for the first time in the Middle East. Some of these different shows will include revolving a 3D stage, movie style scenes, trapeze acts, contemporary choreography with world class dancers and much more.

Bespoke Stage Shows
This season Global Village will offer several exciting shows by over 50 performers recruited from around the world. These shows will include:
Movies Live: a rip-roaring voyage through the world of movies, paying tribute to some of the best known and most loved genres of our time. 
Park Life: a world-class themed circus act with trapeze acts and contemporary choreography.
City Jam: a fast-paced commercial dance show set up in an urban landscape – utilizing different levels, ramps, and projection surfaces guaranteed to increase the adrenaline level amongst Global Village’s audience. 

Thrill Shows
The 21st season of Global Village presents “Speed, Chase, Action!” an exciting stunt-filled show with driving and flame effects!  The stunt show is the first production by Global Village of its kind, which will be performed by over 30 international and professional actors. The thrilling performance will have people at the edge of their seats and will recreate a scene straight out of an action movie. A special stunt area has been custom-built for this specific show, where the seating will accommodate over 900 people.  

Globo’s New Adventures
Global Village will continue to present its highly anticipated Globo shows, during its 21st season, in which Globo and his friends will overcome different obstacles with the help of the kids from the audience. Kids will also have more opportunities to meet and play with Globo. Globo’s gang will include two new friends this season, the bat and the kangaroo.  

The New Roman Amphitheatre Experience
The Roman amphitheatre has been revamped with new lighting and sound projections for Global Village’s 21st season. This year, the Roman amphitheatre will host a circus show, where the circus team will perform and host interactive workshops where kids can learn juggling, ball spinning, mini-stilts, etc to perform it themselves later at the amphitheater stage.

Internationally Acclaimed Cultural  Shows
This season, different world-class cultural shows and musicals will be taking place at Global Village, including the Irish show “Spirit of Dance”, one of the biggest dance shows in the world, which was been seen by more than 30 million viewers.  

This show delivers the powerful rhythms of Irish Dance combined with the passionate Latino rhythms of Tango, Flamenco and Red-Hot Salsa.
Guests of Global Village are also set to attend the spectacular piece of art “Merchants of Bollywood” coming straight from India after it has been performed across all contents in its 10 years of creation.

The multi-cultural festival park will also be home to Turkey’s most famous cultural show, Pasha, based on the classical heroic Turkish Sultans stories.

Kid’s Favorite Characters for the First Time in the MENA
This season two different world famous cartoon shows will be performing live on stage and for the first time in the Middle East. Global Village will present an Angry Birds live show and “Chhota Bheem”, India’s favorite cartoon character. Additionally, the Kids Fest will return with different activities dedicated specifically to the children.

Bringing Entertainment Closer to the Guests
Back by popular demand, street entertainment shows will allow guests to engage in a few laughs while walking around. Street entertainment will be taking place across all of Global Village. This year, among previous acts favoured by the millions of guests in the 20th season, Global Village will have the Super Helpful Heroes roaming around Global Village and making sure they are supporting the guests in the most creative ways while the Mobile Magicians will be fascinating them with street magic acts both in their distinctive and creative automobiles.  A “One Man Band” will also be playing a number of different instruments in a very special ways that makes listeners think there’s an entire band playing. 

The all new robot, “Globot”, will also be working his way through the crowds making sure everyone gets a lovely welcome. 

Concerts
This season, Global Village will be hosting concerts every Friday, with no additional cost at all apart from its AED 15 entry ticket price. International stars from the Middle East, Asia and the world will be taking the main cultural stage every Friday at 9pm. A confirmed list includes: Cheb Khalid, Mika Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Saad Lmjarrad, Atif Aslam, Omar Abdul Lat, and Mohammed Assaf. 

International Shopping Experience at 30 Pavilions
During the 21st season, 30 pavilions will be representing cultures of over 75 countries at Global Village. For the first time, a Far East pavilion will be representing the countries of Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Also being represented for the first time is the Algeria pavilion, and the Eastern Europe pavilion representing Romania, Serbia, and the Ukraine. Furthermore the Jordanian pavilion will be returning from the 19th season. 

Other participating pavilions include: UAE, Turkey, Jordan, Russia, The Americas, Pakistan, Italy, Lebanon, Palestine, Iran, Morocco, Thailand, Kuwait, Yemen, China, Africa, Spain, Afghanistan, Qatar, Bahrain, Germany, France, UK, KSA, India, Egypt and Syria pavilions, as well as Khalifa Foundation and Forsati. 

This season, the pavilions will be back with completely new exteriors and decorations that feature traces of heritage that represent each of the respective countries, along with shops and outlets that sell unique items of handicrafts and souvenirs - all in one area.
Furthermore, new cultural landmarks have been added to all pavilion entrances in the Cultural Corners. This was done to highlight the most important features of the various countries as a means to enrich visitors’ cultural experience at Global Village. 

Dining Experience with International Flavours
Over 150 food and beverage outlets covering cuisines from all around the world will be at Global Village this season. More than 120 themed food kiosks offering street food experience covering a large variety of cuisines, and providing guests with authentic flavours and the ultimate street food experience, will be present at Global Village this season. 19 restaurants will also be hosted with their international cuisines providing guests with unique culinary experience.
After receiving praise from millions in the past, the Portuguese Natta’s Café will return this season. Its first debut in the region was during Global Village’s 20th season and this year the café will return with new and delicious additions to its menu. New this season as well is the Spanish Churros Café which will serve several different desserts and Spanish beverages alongside their delicious and famous churros. 

Thrill for the Entire Family at the Fantasy Island
This year Fantasy Island is returning with more than 50 different rides and skill games that are fun for the entire family. Mellors Group, which is managing the rides and operations of Fantasy Island at Global Village, has brought on more games designed specifically for younger children, along with some of the most exciting thrill rides unique to Global Village. The funfair will be having Happy Hours promotion every day this season with 50% discount on the price of all the rides from 4pm until 6pm.

Partnering with Travel & Tour Agencies
As part of Global Village’s plan to help promote tourism in Dubai, Global Village has announced partnerships with international and local travel and tourism agencies for its 21st season. Global Village has also launched a digital platform where the travel agencies can purchase special packs that offer exclusive deals for travelers at cheaper prices. Global Village has signed with over 25 agencies ahead of its opening.  Some of the key partnerships include agencies such as; Cox & Kings, North Tours, and Royal Arabian Tours. Global Village is keen on continuing to work with Dubai’s tourism authorities and participating in international expos, roadshows and promotional campaigns that promote Dubai across the world.