Those looking to beat the summer heat have plenty to look forward to as Dubai’s water parks gradually reopen.
The latest to welcome back guests is Wild Wadi Waterpark, in Umm Suqeim, which will open on Friday, July 10 – with a new summer offer to boot.
The entertainment destination, run by the Jumeirah hotels group, has a single-day ticket that gives residents access to its attractions, and Burj Al Arab views, for Dh99. The offer is available on any day before Thursday, July 23 and tickets must be purchased online.
Meanwhile, those wanting to extend the fun can take advantage of the Ultimate Wadi Pass, priced at Dh297, which offers unlimited access to the water park until September 30.
The attraction is following UAE government directives with regards to safety. Visitors will have their temperature checked on arrival, and will be required to wear face masks when entering and leaving public areas. They must also practise social distancing.
On Thursday, June 18, water parks in the emirate were given the go-ahead to resume operations.
Other Dubai water parks that have reopened:
Laguna Waterpark
The water park opened to the public on Thursday, July 2, with a limited-time offer of Dh125 for adults and Dh99 for children when booking online.
The deal is valid for two weeks starting July 2, and available only on online bookings (tickets at the door will be at Dh195 for adults and Dh145 for children). The package also includes unlimited food and drinks, and a towel.
The park at La Mer, in Jumeirah 1, will be open from Tuesday to Sunday, and has taken precautions to ensure the health and safety of its guests and staff.
In line with government regulations, the water park will operate at a reduced capacity. Visitors are encouraged to wear a protective mask when outside the water, and temperature checks will be conducted upon entry. Guests will also have to maintain social distancing protocols of two metres at all times, which will be communicated through floor stickers.
In addition, staff members’ health will be closely monitored, and frequent temperature checks will be conducted. There will be no direct contact between staff and guests as all entrances will have self-scanning of tickets.
Atlantis The Palm’s Aquaventure Waterpark
Aquaventure Waterpark reopened on Thursday, June 18, with discounts of up to 50 per cent on entry tickets. A day pass now costs Dh119 for adults and Dh99 for children, compared with the usual price of Dh350 and Dh295 respectively. A three-month seasonal pass, meanwhile, is now priced at Dh250 instead of Dh360, and an annual price is Dh495 as instead of Dh990.
Attractions such as Dolphin Bay, Sea Lion Point, The Lost Chambers and all dive experiences in The Ambassador Lagoon are also open, with discounts of up to 50 per cent.
All guests not staying at Atlantis, The Palm must buy tickets in advance, not at the gate. Individually wrapped towels will be provided and entry to changing rooms and lockers will be limited.
The resort has also employed physical distancing ambassadors and a hygiene team to focus on high-footfall areas, while security and medical teams will conduct temperature checks upon arrival using thermal scanners and cameras.
Precautions are a must
Dubai Municipality has said all attractions – including rides and slides – locker rooms, showers and changing rooms can reopen if proper sanitisation measures are in place.
Some of the precautionary measures include temperature checks, compulsory face masks and sanitiser stations. All parks will need to be washed down completely at the end of each day and prior to reopening as well.
Activities and areas that remain off-limits for the time being include any children’s soft play areas, ball pits, rock climbing walls, inflatable zones, trampolines, gaming zones and one-on-one meet-and-greets. Gatherings, events, parades and parties are also not allowed.
Dubai Municipality notes that up to 10 people can be together, but people should keep at least a two-metre distance from anyone not in their group.
Social distancing should also take place in pools, and parents or caregivers must monitor their children to ensure they stick to the rules. The density allowed in pools is one person per four square metres.
Those working at the parks, such as lifeguards, should feel “empowered to enforce the guidelines without fear of abuse or harassment by users who do not want to comply with the guidelines,” Dubai Municipality said. Those who refuse to comply after repeated warnings “should not be allowed in the premises,” it said.
Other guidelines include setting up an isolation room to handle suspected Covid-19 cases, and cleaning showers and changing rooms after every use or at a minimum of once an hour.
People with underlying medical conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 are not allowed to enter.
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
If you go
Flight connections to Ulaanbaatar are available through a variety of hubs, including Seoul and Beijing, with airlines including Mongolian Airlines and Korean Air. While some nationalities, such as Americans, don’t need a tourist visa for Mongolia, others, including UAE citizens, can obtain a visa on arrival, while others including UK citizens, need to obtain a visa in advance. Contact the Mongolian Embassy in the UAE for more information.
Nomadic Road offers expedition-style trips to Mongolia in January and August, and other destinations during most other months. Its nine-day August 2020 Mongolia trip will cost from $5,250 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, two nights’ hotel accommodation in Ulaanbaatar, vehicle rental, fuel, third party vehicle liability insurance, the services of a guide and support team, accommodation, food and entrance fees; nomadicroad.com
A fully guided three-day, two-night itinerary at Three Camel Lodge costs from $2,420 per person based on two sharing, including airport transfers, accommodation, meals and excursions including the Yol Valley and Flaming Cliffs. A return internal flight from Ulaanbaatar to Dalanzadgad costs $300 per person and the flight takes 90 minutes each way; threecamellodge.com
World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
BIG SPENDERS
Premier League clubs spent £230 million (Dh1.15 billion) on January transfers, the second-highest total for the mid-season window, the Sports Business Group at Deloitte said in a report.
Match info
Arsenal 0
Manchester City 2
Sterling (14'), Bernardo Silva (64')
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
