The Spring Festival at Souq Waqif and Souq Al Wakrah in the last seven days has attracted large number of visitors, especially families, to enjoy many features, games, rides and circus shows which impressed visitors.
Cold weather and the availability of Doha Metro attracted a large numbers of people to visit the Souqs as favourite tourist destinations specially on Thursday and yesterday.
This year’s festival combined traditional games and modern electronic games, which were not available in some previous festivals, and also traditional tents made of animal fur or hair were installed in the market squares, where it attracted many visitors who were able to learn more about the county’s culture and the importance of such tents in old desert life style.
The festival features around 60 games and rides in the two souqs. Visitors can see wild animals like lions and tigers at the circus shows. Singers and dancers enthral the spectators with a variety of songs and dances. The festival opens daily from 4pm until 10pm and runs until January 4.
The festival also offers a number of diversified entertainment games at reasonable prices for children. In addition to other cultural performances by popular teams from a number of countries, including Arab countries.
The managements of both the Souqs have deployed many supervisors and security men to secure events and help the public. To protect children in such big festivals that attract large numbers of visitors, the managements distributed hand bracelets to children carrying child’s name and the phone number of parents. Popular restaurants and food vendors at Souq Waqif, also had their portion. They attracted a large crowd of visitors especially from tourists of all ages, who preferred to eat popular Qatari meals to learn more about tradition cuisine.
A number of vendors at Souq Waqif have confirmed that the Spring Festival has contributed to the revival of the buying and selling movement, compared to normal days, due to the market visitors from tourists and families who are keen and buy distinctive souvenirs.
Many visitors affirmed that Souq Waqif needs such events, especially as it included recreational games for children demanding more of such festivals.
“We enjoyed a lot at this festival, which is still going. It came at an important time, which is the mid year-vacation, as it provided a fun time for the children. It also came at the end of the month, where we get salaries so everyone can enjoy and entertain such shows and games presented by the festival,” said Rana.
For his part, Salah said, “Souq Waqif has always been our favourite destination but the opening of the metro has increased its visitors and I have seen many visitors use the metro during the past many days to reach the activities of the Souq Waqif Festival. The opening of the metro has attracted many visitors to Souq Waqif, especially families.”
“Before 10pm Souq square becomes very crowded, thanks to the Souq management for organising such events.”, he said.
The event is being organised by the Private Engineering Office in order to draw local and international tourists and give them an opportunity to enjoy various entertainment and shows.
Khalid Saif Al Suwaidi, Manager of Souq Al Wakrah said that the aim of the festival is not only to provide quality entertainment to people but also to make people visit these markets and know more about Qatari culture. That is the reason why we are organising the festival during mid-year vacations in order to attract more people.