‘Summer in Abu Dhabi' - the six-week family-centric festival now in its third year - has been significantly expanded by its organizer Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) with an awesome entertainment line-up taking in eight venues across the UAE capital and Al Ain - the first time the festival has reached out to the emirate's Eastern Region heritage heartland. Headlining the festival, which runs from June 24 to Aug. 5, 2010, will be three major international acts including, direct from the US, New York's award-winning Big Apple Circus, one of the world's largest, which will be making its first appearance in the Middle East. The circus was the opening act of Britney Spears' highly successful “The Circus Starring Britney Spears” world tour. The circus, with a stellar cast of international stars from Europe and Russia, has been billed as “nothing short of spectacular” by New York's acclaimed social website WhomYouKnow.com. “This is family entertainment at its very finest,” said Faisal Al Sheikh, events manager, ADTA. “It sets the tone of an entertainment and edutainment extravaganza which is larger than ever with compelling 1-for-1 visitor deals. Summer in Abu Dhabi this year will be the biggest summer event to hit Abu Dhabi yet and is a strong pitch to families within the GCC to come and spend time in the emirate where they'll be guaranteed fantastic value and entertainment.” The GCC is a primary source market for Abu Dhabi with the first quarter of this year seeing some 26,685 GCC nationals staying in hotels throughout the emirate - a 29 percent rise on the same period last year. This made the GCC the second biggest overseas market for Abu Dhabi after the UK. “The number of Saudi guests who stayed in Abu Dhabi hotels during the first quarter of this year numbered 9,083, which is a 23 percent increase compared to figures for Q1 of 2009 - Saudi remains our biggest market in the GCC,” Al Sheikh said. “The proximity of Saudi Arabia to the UAE and the excellent air links between the two countries make theKingdom a prime market on our doorstep.” Award-winning Etihad, the national airline of the UAE, flies seven times a week from Jeddah and eight times a week from Riyadh to Abu Dhabi International. Saudi Arabian Airlines operates three flights a week from Jeddah and four a week from Riyadh to the UAE capital. The Big Apple Circus will perform a one hour, 20 minute show at the recently-launched Abu Dhabi Hall at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) from July 23 - Aug. 3. The hall is the Gulf's largest indoor entertainment venue with retractable seats and a capacity of 6,000. Tickets are available from Summer in Abu Dhabi participating shopping malls and from ADNEC. Negotiations for a second international headline act are currently being finalized, according to Al Sheikh, while Abu Dhabi Hall will also host the legendary Irish dancing theatrical “Lord of the Dance”, the world's highest grossing dance show. “Lord of the Dance”, the brainchild of American-Irish dance sensation Michael Flately, has smashed box office records and performed sold-out shows to over 100 million people at theatres, arenas and stadiums in 67 countries. It will run for four nights - July 23-26. “This is the theatre-cum-art spectacular which catapulted Irish dancing into the global spotlight.”
