Doha: When the summer holidays began two months earlier, it seemed like Qatar was running short of recreational opportunities for the thousands of children enjoying time off from school.
So when the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) announced the opening of its summer festival shortly after Eid, it brought a sigh of relief to families who had decided to spend the holidays here for financial reasons or otherwise.
Mohammad Saeed, who works as a manager at a clothing chain and has a young family, did not waste any time bringing his children to the Entertainment City set up at the Doha Exhibition Centre.
“My seven-year-old son loves this place, particularly the remote-controlled car driving game,” he told Gulf News through the deafening chorus of squealing kids, shouting parents and blaring loud speakers.
The event’s organisers endorsed the game’s popularity among children, especially older boys. Other popular activities, according to a staff member at the festival, were skiing, riding the Segway and skate ramps.
“For all of these activities, we have professional instructors who train the participants before they are allowed to use the facilities and it encourages parents to let their children try them without worrying about injuries,” said Andrea, one of the supervisors of the 70-plus employees working at the venue every day.
While summer activities are not new to Qatar, it is the first time that a festival has been arranged on such a large scale and across multiple venues. The indoor activities at DEC have attracted the biggest crowds — attendance on weekdays is at least 2,000 and on weekends it swells up to 10,000 per day.
Other parts of the festival include rides and water activities at the Al Wakra Beach Park, aquatic adventures (snorkelling, kayaking and paddle-boats) near the Al Khor Mall and a choreographed dancing fountain show at the corniche.
“It is really hot these days so I preferred taking my kids to the indoor venue instead of the parks but since the evenings have become cooler I decided to bring them here to the water rides,” Kulsoom, mother of three, said at the Al Wakra Park.
Most of the activities, especially those that require prior training, set the participants back anything between 50 to 100 riyals and the scenic flights at Al Khor cost a whopping 500 riyals (Dh504). However, ticket prices have done little to deter participants and if the official figures are to be believed, the DEC venue has already seen crowds of nearly 100,000 in the three weeks since the festival opened on August 4.
Apart from the permanent features, several special shows have been scheduled, while the everyday activities at the DEC will also be rotated and changed during the course of the eight-week festival.
“We have added more games and removed some of the less popular ones to make sure the people keep coming back,” a festival official confirmed.
“We have had to turn people away and wait for them to leave well past the closing hours as children have been unwilling to let go of the rides and activities,” she added.
With schools set to reopen soon, the numbers are expected to drop during weekdays but organisers are confident that weekends will remain packed until the festival packs up on September 27.
