Dubai: Municipal authorities have been strictly implementing the country’s dress code at Dubai Zoo after receiving complaints about female visitors who were still wearing their beachwear.
A senior official at Dubai Municipality clarified that beefing up on the dress code was essential after scantily clad women who looked as though they had clearly spent the morning at the beach, continued to wear the same attire when visiting the zoo, located in Jumeirah.
“The dress code has always been applicable to the zoo and all the parks around Dubai and we did not have any problems until recently. Last month, we received lots of complaints about women who were still wearing their beachwear were entering the zoo,” explained Ahmad Abdul Kareem, director of the public parks and horticulture department at Dubai Municipality.
“Families were complaining about the lack of respect the scantily clad women had for our society and our rules, and wearing your swimwear in a park or zoo is inappropriate. This same rule applies to shopping centres and every other public place,” he said.
Women now entering the zoo are required to cover up their shoulders and their knees, and Abdul Kareem pointed out that it was around the end of last December when they put new posters up in the zoo, to raise awareness on the public dress code.
“Every day we have about six buses of school children who visit the zoo, boys and girls, which come from all types of institutes. We receive students from public and private schools, Islamic ones, and also tour buses from other Gulf countries. So parents do not want their children exposed to such types of negative behaviour,” he added.
