Dubai: Disney, which is adding new attractions, new destinations for cruiselines and new characters to its theme parks and resorts in 2015, is hoping to attract more “guests” from the Gulf region.
A four-member Disney delegation revealed in Dubai on Thursday the new attractions that would appeal from the Middle Eastern population, mainly the Gulf region.
“It is very important, and I see it becoming more important in the future,” Hugh Wood, Vice President of Market Development at Disney Destinations International, told Gulf News at a conference in Dubai on Thursday.
While Disney executives gave no figures for visitors from the Gulf region to the theme parks in both Paris and Orlando, US, they noted visitors from the Gulf region constitute “relatively small percentage” of the 14.2 million visitors to the Disney Paris in 2014 — overall number of visitors to Disney attractions around the world is estimated at nearly 100 million every year, noted Damien Vayne, Paris-based International press relations manger.
Also, many tourists from the Gulf region joined Mediterranean cruise line trips last year.
The cruise lines are among the main attractions of the entertainment behemoth, which is being promoted in the Gulf region in the past two years.
Wood said last year, there are a “significant number of tourists from the Gulf region during the months of July and August, 2014, including a large group of one extended family which ranged between 20 and 30 people.
Young business
“We were happy. We see a great potential and the momentum in the business is very strong. As you expect, it is a relatively young business in the region,” Wood said.
“In the US, we have been marketing (cruiselines) for more than 20 years. Here (Gulf region), we have been marketing it for a couple of years,” he added.
In the summer of 2015, Disney Cruise Line will be returning to the Mediterranean. Moreover, it will be exploring for the first time the Norwegian fjords, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, as well as the Baltic.
Cruises to Alaska, Caribbean and Bahamas also are included in the schedules.
New hotels and seven Dwarfs Mine train in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando are among the new attractions in the giant family entertainment company.
Among the most popular new characters in Disney’s theme parks, including Disney Paris and Orlando, are Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, and the comedic snowman Olaf — three popular characters in the box office hit and Oscar-winning movie “Frozen”.
The winning song of the animation movie, “let it go”, will be repeated across the theme parks.
