Dubai embraces Chinese Spring Festival celebrations

With Chinese tourists rushing to Dubai and the Chinese community in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) almost hitting 300,000 people, hotels and hospitality outlets across the sheikhdom offer a week of celebrations and events in red to mark the start of the Year of the Goat.

Issam Kazim, the chief executive of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), was proud to announce earlier in January that in 2014 the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Dubai increased by 25 percent on a year-on-year basis.

"Dubai's hotels, restaurants and shopping malls have a lot to offer in mid-February when New Year celebrations kick off," Kazim told Xinhua.

Like in previous years, the iconic seven-star hotel Burj Al-Arab and the world's biggest shopping center Dubai Mall, a popular hotspot for visitors from China, will be in the center of activities for affluent tourist groups from China.

The Burj Al-Arab hotel is usually illuminated with symbols from the Chinese and wisdoms in Mandarin and hosts Chinese music groups who entertain guests with Lion dances and traditional Chinese songs.

At the adjacent Juemeirah beach hotel, which is specially designed for family holidays, Kung Fu tea masters and face changing artists will be performed for guests who stay here during the Spring Festival.

The Dubai Mall, decorated partly with traditional red Chinese lanterns, is the place where most boutiques in one place have Mandarin-speaking staff to serve their compatriots.

"Over a decade ago, we were the first jewelry brand to employ Chinese. Today, having Mandarin-speaking staff is a must in Dubai," said Amit Dhamani, the chief executive of Dhamani diamonds which runs branches in the Dubai Mall and other five-star hotels.

Earlier in the day, the Atlantis Palm hotel announced it would offer an array of festive dishes at its Asian restaurants Yuan, saffron and Asia Republic with Chinese music and lion dances whereas the performers will wear traditional Chinese golden dolls to mark the start of the Chinese Year of the Goat.

"Chinese tourists are one of the most important pillars of tourism in this part of the world," said Eyad Al-Kourdi, the country business head at credit card provider Master Card. "We welcome them with open hearts and we hope they will enjoy their shopping."

In 2013, a total of 275,675 visitors from China came to Dubai and in 2014 the number increased to more than 340,000, according to the official tourism body DCTCM.

"We started to give more Chinese access to Dubai by sea as we recently enabled multiple entry visas for Chinese nationals who plan cruise ship holidays in the Middle East," said Kazim.