Dubai: Passengers with transit time of more than four hours will be allowed to take city tour but those who have less time can still take a virtual tour, said a senior official.
Dubai Airports, in cooperation with Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), has developed the ‘Microcosm of Dubai’, a new initiative that aims to give passengers transiting through the emirate’s airports a unique experience of the city.
Launched by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, the ‘Microcosm of Dubai’ is part of a series of initiatives developed under the umbrella of ‘Dubai 10X’, which aims to place Dubai 10 years ahead of other cities.
The new initiative aims to make the city of Dubai an extension of the airport by offering passengers the freedom of leaving the airport and enjoying what the city has to offer. It also explores opportunities to showcase the city’s vibrancy, culture and innovation in the airport to entice transit passengers to visit the city.
Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, said: “The ‘Microcosm of Dubai’, developed in cooperation with the Dubai Future Foundation, will enable hundreds of thousands of passengers passing through Dubai International Airport daily to experience the various facets of Dubai while they are in the airport through interactive experiences, virtual reality and cultural displays with our artDXB and musicDXB programmes. If their connection time exceeds four hours, they will have the option of taking a tour of Dubai”.
“For years, we have been studying the DXB Plus project, which aims to increase the airport’s capacity to 118 million passengers by 2023. The ‘Dubai 10X’ initiative gives us a real opportunity to achieve our goal of becoming the best airport operator in the world and making DXB a destination in itself.”
“We need to discard legacy thinking and better engage with our customers. Our aim is to disrupt the current airport model by focusing on the customer and discovering new ideas that solve current service challenges.”
“By 2020, the aviation sector is expected to contribute $53.1 billion (Dh195 billion) to the Dubai economy and provide more than 754,000 jobs, according to Oxford Economics. By 2030, that will rise to $88 billion.
“We will be working with our service partners to ensure our solutions consider all aspects of the airport and travel experience,” Griffiths said. “The launch of Dubai 10X has further encouraged us to go beyond traditional ideas and explore new horizons of creativity and innovation.”
